Uttarakhand villages plunge into gloom after deaths of 5 soldiers in Kathua
DEHRADUN: A day after the terrorist attack on an Indian Army convoy patrolling in Kathua district of Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand is engulfed in sorrow over the death of five soldiers from the state who were killed in action.
The dead soldiers, who were serving in the Garhwal Rifles regiment, include Naib Subedar Anand Singh Rawat (41) from Rudraprayag, Rifleman Anuj Negi (25) and Havildar Kamal Singh Rawat (28) from Pauri Garhwal district, and Rifleman Adarsh Negi (26) and Naik Vinod Singh Bhandari (33) from Tehri Garhwal district.
On Tuesday evening, their mortal remains arrived at Dehradun’s Jolly Grant Airport, where a wreath-laying ceremony was held to pay tribute to the fallen soldiers with traditional military honours. Chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, Haridwar MP and former CM Trivendra Singh Rawat, cabinet ministers Ganesh Joshi and Premchandra Agrawal, General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Uttarakhand sub-area, Major General R Prem Raj, state DGP Abhinav Kumar and other senior Army officers were present. Condemning the terrorist attack, Dhami said, “It was a cowardly act. The entire nation and the state stand in solidarity with the grieving families. Their supreme sacrifice won’t go to waste. Those involved in this dastardly act will not be spared, nor those who provided shelter to the terrorists. The govt will provide every possible support to the families of the fallen heroes.”
Lt Col Manish Shrivastava, public relations officer, defense (Dehradun), said, “Of the five soldiers who died, the mortal remains of Naik Bhandari were handed over to his family members, who performed his last rites in Dehradun. The bodies of the two soldiers from Pauri Garhwal were airlifted to Kotdwar city in a chopper and will be transported to their native villages by road for the final rites.”
He added, “Due to unfavourable weather conditions on Tuesday, the bodies of the two soldiers from Tehri Garhwal will be airlifted to Srinagar in Pauri Garhwal on Wednesday morning. From there, they will be taken to their respective villages by road for cremation with full military honours.”
