Bihar needs more centres for the welfare of ex-servicemen

Daisy

Patna : Former vice-president of India Ex-servicemen League Col (Retd) V P Singh on Saturday said although the Modi  government talks  about  better welfare scheme  for armymen, they are still deprived  of a composite facility in Bihar on the pattern of  facilities being  given in other states. This will be possible only when the state government and  defence ministry  take up a joint  venture for the soldiers’ welfare, said Singh. 

 In an appeal to  senior Army officials and the state government, Singh said  that Bihar is  contributing  about 11 per cent  manpower to armed forces. While  about 1.5  lakh  soldiers  are  engaged guarding borders of the country,  about two lakh ex- servicemen are settled in Bihar after superannuation.  These  jawans are contributing to the development of the state directly or indirectly, he said.  According to Col( retd ) Singh ,  these soldiers  are  living  about 1,000 km away from their  respective houses and their families and dependents  are in need of better facilities in the state. Children of army personnel are mostly brought up by their mothers in the absence of their fathers. As such,  they are in need of better education and medical facilities, he said.

“Bihar needs a composite centre for army personnel welfare  where polyclinic, education , sainik rest house, widows’ rehabilitation , zila sainik office  and other facilities are available at a particular place. After bifurcation, Bihar has got  Danapur cantonment only  which is not in a position to take care of about 1.5 lakh serving soldiers and two lakh ex-servicemen in the state,” Singh said. 

Army  has  launched a scheme for setting up a  composite facility centre for jawans’ welfare  in other states  known as ‘ Sapta Shakti  ,’ `Sainya  Sahuliat Kendra‘ , Singh said adding  poor medical and education facilities  for armymen’s children  in Bihar  were the major concern for the army . According to  Col(retd) Singh ,   Bihar is in need of  at  least  six such centres  to cater to the needs of serving  soldiers and ex-servicemen .  The defence ministry should take up this  cause  in consultation with Bihar government  which has given a  boost to their morale  by  recruiting ex-servicemen  as special auxiliary force ( SAP), he said .