Just two weeks after fighting off criticism over her post-retirement home in Pune,President Pratibha Patil today announced that she has decided to give up the accomodation provided to her. Considering the fact that the issue has got linked with the issue of war widows accommodation by some people,the President has chosen to forego the aforesaid allotment of accommodation proposed to be made to her as her post-retirement home in Pune, said a statement issued by Rashtrapati Bhawan this evening. There was no clarity on where Patil would move after her term ends in July. She has not put her mind to it. As of now,she has given up the accommodation being provided to her in Pune, Rastrapati Bhawan spokesperson Archana Dutta said. There was controversy after some ex-servicemen protested the decision to allot the President defence land in Pune cantonment,compelling Rashtrapati Bhawan to issue a detailed clarification on April 12 stating that the allotments had been done within rules and there had been no wrongdoing. The clarification was seen as indication that the President intended to stick to her plan to retire to the specified home in Pune. However,todays statement said the President had been reading and watching some fallacious observations on the accommodation,and had been pained at being portrayed as someone who was insensitive to war widows and ex-servicemen. She chose not to react as she has always held herself answerable to the Constitution of our country and her conscience. It was expected that once the facts were made public it would convince the concerned people. But despite clarifications given by the Presidents Secretariat,it is unfortunate that the misgivings continue to persist, the statement said. Saying that she had the highest regard for jawans and war widows,Patil hoped that the decision would put an end to all misgivings. The statement also underlined how Patil had visited far flung army establishments in Tangdhar,Bhadarwah and Leh,and always worked towards the welfare of war widows.
