Wife of missing soldier wins 37-yr-old battle for benefits

MADIKERI: Sixty-seven-year-old Nanjamma’s long wait to get retirement benefits of her husband - a missing soldier - has finally ended. The benefits had eluded Nanjamma for 37 years after her husband, Tekkada U Balakrishna, went missing in 1981.Nanjamma, who lives at Singattur village near Bhagamandala along with her disabled sister, said it is a battle lost and won as she had lost all hope of being rewarded for her husband’s 18-year service to the country.

Narrating her story, Nanjamma said her husband, who had joined the Army in 1962, had come home on a month’s leave in May of 1981. Balakrishna left home on June 12, 1981, saying that he had to report for duty in Delhi on June 16. Shockingly, she received a letter from the Army three months later stating that her husband had not reported for duty. The family searched for him everywhere and also filed a missing complaint with the police in Kodagu.

However, their efforts went in vain as he was not traced. Three years later, Nanjamma received another letter stating that Balakrishna has been dismissed from the Army as he failed to report for duty and had not applied for any leave. After 11 years, in another letter, the Army informed that Balakrishna’s retirement benefits have been withheld as he was ‘absconding’. Nanjamma made several requests to the Army for pension, but to no avail. As years passed by, she gave up her fight and returned to her parents home in Singattur to take care of them and her sister.  

In 2014, she happened to meet Major (retd) O S Chingappa, an advocate in Madikeri. Major (retd) Chingappa, who filed a petition in JMFC court, finally managed to get the order in favour of Nanjamma. The court held that if any person is missing for seven years, he or she can be declared as dead.  

Major (retd) Chingappa told Express that he sent all the service documents of Balakrishna along with the court order to the Army Headquarters for sanction of the retirement benefits.  Major (retd) Chingappa said he even met General Dalbir Singh during his visit to Madikeri in 2016 and explained to him the plight of Nanjamma. A month ago, the Army remitted complete retirement benefits to Nanjamma’s bank account.