We are surviving on savings: Pahalgam victim’s family awaits job assured by state govt

The family is yet to come to terms with the trauma of the terror attack and the brutal killing of a family member. “To add insult to injury, we are now being made to run from pillar to post for the government job assured by the state government,” Asawari said. “We are shocked by the treatment from the administration, which is asking us to make rounds of Mantralaya to get our work done. The politicians just buy time by giving us false assurances that the process is on, but till date there is no communication from anyone on any progress.”

“It was the Chief Minister who made the announcement of a government job to me, while the two Deputy Chief Ministers had also assured us of support to this end. As the focus from the incident shifted, there has been no one who has communicated anything in writing about the job. In fact, no one has even enquired about me and my mother since then,” she said.

“I cannot take up a job in the private sector to avoid the technicalities of leaving it in between, but I don’t have a government job in hand either. We are managing our finances only through our savings — no one can understand our sufferings,” she rued.

Jagdale added, “It is the responsibility of the government to take care of us till we die, as our main bread earner has died because of them. I cannot forget what the terrorists said during the attack as they took the name of Narendra Modi and killed people on religious grounds.”

She said she visited several political leaders seeking clarity on the promised job but received no response. “I also wrote to the Prime Minister’s Office, but there was no reply from there too. Our efforts to meet the chief minister during his Pune visit went in vain as the authorities turned us away citing his busy schedule.”

The family could eventually meet Rajya Sabha MP Medha Kulkarni and urged her to take up their matter. “We met the Rajya Sabha MP who stays in the Kothrud area, where we stay. We requested her to help as everything else had failed,” Jagdale said, adding that the BJP MP has now taken up their case with Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
Kulkarni met Shah in New Delhi on Friday and sought his intervention over the prolonged delay in fulfilling the government’s assurance, which she said had caused significant emotional distress and financial hardship to the bereaved family.

“In the immediate aftermath of the terrorist attack in which Santosh Jagdale was killed, the bereaved family was assured support by state leadership, including Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and former Deputy Chief Minister Late Ajit Pawar. It was conveyed that, as part of the government’s commitment towards families of terror victims, compassionate government employment would be provided to Asawari Jagdale,” Kulkarni said.

She said she received a request from Pragati Jagdale, wife of Santosh Jagdale, seeking her assistance in reminding the government of its promise, which she then conveyed to Shah. “I told the Home Minister that I am now seeking his intervention in the matter to facilitate appropriate and timely action,” she said.

Kulkarni added that Asawari is academically well-qualified and was assured appointment to a Class-II administrative officer post. The family has requested that she be appointed either to the promised post or to an alternative suitable post in the Pune Municipal Corporation or the state government.

“Granting employment to Asawari will not only ensure livelihood security but also honour the assurance extended by state leaders. It will also reaffirm the government’s compassionate and sensitive approach towards victims of terrorism,” Kulkarni said.

Meanwhile, the Pune Municipal Corporation, which had offered Asawari a job in the civic body, is awaiting a response from the state government. “The PMC sent its proposal in August last year seeking permission from the state government to give Asawari a job. We are yet to get a reply,” a PMC officer said.