The fight continues

If a contemporary at a remote district of the state needs medical help and he comes to know of it,he is usually the first one to reach by the side of the octogenarian or nonagenarian,and do the needful.

Resident of Narasimha Dutta Road,Kadamtala in Howrah,he has a 20-member strong family and is proud of the self-respect that has remained intact over the years. “I have never asked the government to give any of my family members a job or any financial aid. I am happy with the pension that the Central government and state government give me,” he says.

After he took an early retirement from a reputed Bengali daily in 1956,Ganguly joined the insurance sector as a divisional manager in 1957.

Later,the government gave him an office at the Writers’ Buildings,a phone and a car. He meets fellow freedom fighters at his office and has,in consultation with Finance Minister Amit Mitra,arranged for a new pension structure for them. He rues the fact that while freedom fighters of other states have been given the respect and recognition they deserve,Bengal has been lagging far behind,for reasons unknown.

“At least one member of every freedom fighters’ family has been given a job (in other states) but our government has failed to duplicate the plan here. I do not want it for my family but there are other fellow fighters who are living in extreme penury and devoid of even the basic medical facility. I urge the government to spare a thought for them,” he says,adding that the state government’s allowance of Rs 3,250 has not been revised for decades.

“They have been fighting against tyranny initially and even now they are fighting,against poverty. They definitely deserve a better life. You will be shocked to see the squalid conditions these people live in and would be surprised to know that they are the same people who had fought shoulder to shoulder with celebrated names of Bengal who had contributed towards the fight against the British Raj.