A day before chief minister Akhilesh Yadav was expected to visit the house of martyr BS Verma in Khadepur village to pay homage, the employees of government departments worked day and night to give the village a facelift.
All roads leading to the village were repaired and the damaged power lines were replaced by the new ones. But as soon as the government officials came to know that the chief minister would not be visiting the village, and instead would meet the family members of the martyr at CSA university where he had come to distribute cheques to the beneficiaries of different government schemes, they left the work midway.
The Khadepur village which was full of activities a day before wore a deserted look on Friday. The locals told TOI that for the first time in the last 40 years some sort of beautification work was carried out, but the same was immediately wrapped up with the cancellation of the chief minister's programme.
Further, the news of cancellation of the chief minister's visit to Khadepur village disappointed the aggrieved family members. Though the old parents of martyr BS Verma, his son Ravi and daughter Divya were expected to meet the Akhilesh Yadav but the other family members said that he should have come here to pay homage to the departed soul who had laid down his life while fighting the Naxals.
Arun Verma, younger brother of the martyr said, "As the chief minister often visits the homes of martyrs, he should have come here also. Though the chief minister has handed over a cheque of Rs 20 lakh to the the martyr's parents, but it's not the money that matters. His presence was required by us". He said that his old parents have handed over a memorandum to the chief minister demanding construction of a park in the memorial of the martyr and a suitable job to his family member.
Meanwhile, the Verma family continued the construction of a memorial with their own funds at the ground close to their house where BS Verma was cremated.
Source: The Times of India - Kanpur - Dec 13, 2014
