Nagpur: Emotions ran high after Katol’s Naik Bhushan Satai was killed in firing across the line of control (LoC) a week ago, with thousands joining in to pay last respects to the fallen soldier. The same patriotism, however, is not seen when it comes to financially helping veterans, in the last two years.
A number of welfare schemes for ex-soldiers are funded through collections by the Armed Forces flag day fund. This is a corpus built on the basis of voluntarily contribution by the general public. The yearly fund quota for relief schemes in each district is also fixed on the basis of collections. This includes the Rs1 crore to be paid to kin of martyrs like Satai too.
A target of around Rs2 crore has been fixed for the Nagpur district for the year. With hardly a fortnight remaining for the year to end, the contributions so far are at only 30% of the target, said sources.
A year is calculated from December 7 for this purpose. This is because the Armed Forces flag day is observed on December 7.
The targets are fixed on the basis of population of ex-servicemen and their dependents. In Nagpur, this is estimated to be 60,000. Given the population, the collections so far may not be enough. The money is spent on welfare schemes, ranging from one-time payment for education, periodic doles to even last rites, apart from relief to kin of martyrs, a source said.
Contributions are made through the respective district sainik welfare offices. The funds are mobilized through the district collectorate, which exhorts officials of different state government departments to contribute. Even private persons can contribute, sources said. In Nagpur, the sainik welfare office is located at the government administrative building.
“The contribution is purely voluntarily. Other districts of the region have easily surpassed the target but Nagpur has not even touch the half way mark. This is despite the district’s size and socio-economic condition of the people here,” a source said.
Nagpur city also has a sizeable population of retired army officers, who can easily donate for the welfare of the men, the source said. There are still some days left this for the year to end and the tally can be increased.
This year Covid may have impacted the contributions, but even last year Nagpur did not meet the target. It is learnt that in 2018-19, Nagpur district collected a little more than 50% of the target. The coming year’s target has been slightly reduced.
Earlier, contributions were also taken from schools with volunteers collecting donations in the streets. The practice was discontinued following complaints.
Ram Korke, vice-president of Maji Sainik Aghadi, said, “Contributions are low because of the pandemic. Covid reduced footfall to the government departments, where people coming for work are also requested to contribute. As the numbers reduced, even contribution was down.” The contributions qualify for income tax relief also, he said.