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 .