Our Correspondent

Abohar, August 16

Hundreds of people led by the Minister for Employment Generation, Skill Development, and Training, Aman Arora, visited the Asafwala War Memorial and paid tributes to the martyrs of the 1971 war. Arora, who was accompanied by his family, all in yellow (Basant) attire, laid a wreath at the memorial on 78th Independence ARora has been instrumental in pursuing the state government in upgrading the monument, with which some non-government organizations were also associated. He said the state has a firm resolve for the welfare of army personnel, families of martyrs, and ex-servicemen. He said the state government has increased the ex-gratia amount from Rs 50 lakh to 1 crore for the heirs of the martyred ‘jawans’ and has also included firemen under this financial assistance scheme. He added that apart from this, the government has increased the pension to families of freedom fighters from Rs 9,400 to Rs 11,000.

Shaheedon Ki Samadhi Committee President Sandeep Gilhotra said the NGO has been preserving the war memorial since 1972. He said the monument was home to the ashes of 82 ‘jawans’ of the Army and other central security forces who made supreme sacrifices in the 1971 war.