In 2003,when Neeraj Vats lit the pyre of son Major Navneet Vats,who lost his life fighting terrorists in Srinagar,the whole nation joined them in mourning. Army personnel,administration representatives,police and senior political leaders gathered to pay tribute to the martyr. A decade has passed since Neeraj and Vichitra Veena Vats lost their elder son. Neeraj Vats,died on July 27,2013 fighting against weekly dialysis and old age. Now in her late 70s with acute depression,Vichitra Vats is left to feed her 28-year-old differently abled son,Nimish,without any support. As per the army rules,the compensation and benefits went to the late officers wife. Both Neeraj and Vichitra took voluntary retirement in 1998 and 2000 respectively. A former SBI official,Vichitra is proud of his son who died defending the country. The incident has taken a heavy toll on her health. Navneet who was commissioned in the Indian Army in 1994 was killed in action on November 20,2003. He was awarded the Sena Medal (posthumously). Neeraj Vats pledged his body to PGI before his death. He knew that with an ailing and aged wife and a differently abled son there is no one whom he can burden with the obligation of performing the last rites, said Charanjeet Singh,a former colleague and friend of Vats. Till his father was alive,I was not worried as he was a very strong man and took good care of the family. But after his death it is only the mother who is left to take care of Nimesh, said Anshu Arora,an old friend of Late Major Navneet Vats. Anxious about the security of the mother and son,Arora made a request to the Army officers to allocate them a room in one a hospitals and sought the officers brother rehabilitation. Initially,any kind of relief was completely denied to the family. However,after several talks with army officials the case was taken up. But it has been more than eight months since I initiated the talks but no relief has been provided yet, said Arora. As time passed,the family has been left with very few friends. I make a weekly visit to the family. Neeraj was a dear friend. I am really concerned about them now as Vichitra is also not keeping well. They need to be shifted to some hospital as soon as possible, Singh said,adding,I had a word with Vichitras elder brother who lives in Delhi. I have requested him to come here as soon as possible and make some arrangements for the mother and the son.
