HYDERABAD:  “I was only 19-years-old when I went to fight the 1965 war. Today I am not even given a single penny for even my basic medical expenses,” said 70-year-old Capt. Lingala Panduranga Reddy (retd) who served in Gurkha Rifles, an Infantry division of Army, at a Press Conference here on Friday. Reddy is one of several veterans who have won wars for this country, only to be found asking for their basic rights decades later.

These words come at a time when the Telangana government has offered Rs 25 lakh to the families of CRPF soldiers who lost their life in the terror attack in Pulwama. The veterans are now appealing to the government of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to allocate funds for basic medical aid in their Budgets. The group of 30-odd veterans have also decided to appeal to Centre. 

These soldiers, declared as war veterans, had been recruited into the Army as part of the Emergency Service Commission when the 1965 Indo-Pak war seemed imminent. They do not receive any pension or medical benefits like other army personnel.

“We have been in correspondence with the Defence Ministry and with Army headquarters for over 20 years now. The empty rhetoric that they care for Jawans must be exposed,” said Reddy.These veterans had received a glimmer of hope in 2016 March when the Army Headquarters took cognizance of the issue and wrote to the Ministry of Defence to extend medical benefits to war veterans of 1962, 1965 and 1971.

However, even after three years, there has been no change.“(Army Chief) Bipin Rawat has personally written to the Defence Minister (Nirmala Sitharaman). But she has only dragged her feet till now,” asked Reddy.