Ray of hope for Shaheed Park widows: NGO writes to PMO

There is light at the end of the tunnel for widows of the 1971 Indo-Pak war heroes, who have been living in darkness since August 2013 after their housing complex's electricity connections were snapped, after TOI reported their condition. Voice of Martyrs' welfare association, a Chandigarh-based NGO, has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, requesting him to intervene in the matter. The NGO decided to take up the cause of war widows after its representatives visited Shaheed Park last month. In addition to the PM, they have also written to nine other authorities including the President, defence minister and the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh.

"It is surely a ray of hope. The matter has reached a stalemate and no authorities are working for us since the matter is in court. I just hope that if not anyone, at least the PM replies to the letter and intervenes in the matter," said 67-year-old Raj Kumari Devi, a resident of one of the ten houses in the complex.

On August 12, 2013 electricity connections were cut and widows were asked to pay bills as high as Rs 3 lakh per family.

Though the houses were constructed by the UP government in 1972, the state government had transferred the houses to the Central Command on February 23, 1981. After the transfer, the area came under the ministry of defence so that no unauthorized construction on defence land takes place.

Only four out of the ten houses in the complex are equipped with generators. Residents in the other houses say they cannot afford to them.

Vijay Sangwan, the NGO's president, said, "Our NGO has been working for families of martyrs for a long time now. The problems the widows in Shaheed Park are going through is something which the entire nation should feel bad about. I hope the Prime Minister replies to our letter very soon."

Dharamveer Singh, a war survivor, asked, "After the 1971 war, we were asked to either take Rs 5,000 or a house as compensation. We chose houses but now they are asking us to pay electricity bills. What type of compensation is this? Have the authorities ever asked the people who were given Rs 5,000 to return the cash? When they have not been asked to return the money, then why are we being asked to do the same?"

Singh is the only surviving soldier who was allotted a house in Shaheed Park. Naaro Devi, a widow from Shaheed Park who was suffering from stage-IV cervical cancer, recently passed away. The lack of electricity is believed to have been the cause behind her deteriorating condition.

In Uttar Pradesh, 47 houses were allotted to widows of martyrs, out of which 10 are in Meerut, 16 in Lucknow, 10 in Bareilly, 6 in Agra and 5 in Lansdowne (now a part of Uttarakhand).

A case was filed in the Allahabad high court on April 26, 2014 but not a single hearing has taken place yet. The widows had also met former defence minister AK Antony several times. The last time Antony wrote back was on January 3, 2014, saying that he was looking into the matter.

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