Surat NGO to give Rs 1 lakh each to kin of soldiers killed in Ladakh

Birbhum: Army jawans pay gun salute to martyr Rajesh Orang during his funeral rites at his ancestral village Belgoria in Birbhum district of West Bengal, Friday, June 19, 2020. Orang was among the twenty Indian Army soldiers who were martyred in a clash with the Chinese troops in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley. (PTI Photo) (PTI19-06-2020_000183B)

The Jay Jawan Nagrik Samiti (JJNS), an NGO in Surat, will honour and give financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh each to the family members of the soldiers who were killed in violent clashes with Chinese troops in Galwan valley of Ladakh.

Managing trustee of the NGO Kanji Bhalara said, “Even during Uri attack, we reached out to the family members of those 42 soldiers who were killed and had given them Rs 2 lakh each. This year we are going to give Rs 1 lakh each to the families of 20 soldiers who died in the clashes in Galwan valley. We will felicitate them and also transfer the amount into the bank accounts of their families. We are also planning to take some of the school students while going to meet them, as many students in Varachha had also donated funds for the samiti, which they saved from their pocket money.”

“Through local district police headquarters and some of our links in the Army, we have got address and contact number of the families of the soldiers. We are also hoping to increase the financial assistance to around Rs 2 lakh,” he added.

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The first such program organised by the JJNS was in 1999 on the day of Kargil Vijay Divas, when they felicitated and gave financial aid of Rs 2 lakh to the family members of 14 soldiers from Gujarat who were killed. The JJNS had collected funds from the diamond, textile and real estate businessmen of Surat.

“This year also we will give Rs 2 lakh each to the family members of 14 soldiers from Gujarat who were killed in attacks, those died in accident or due to illnesses. We will hand over the amount to them by the end of July,” Bhalara said.