Video Editor: Abhishek Sharma
On 18 september 2016, four militants attacked the army brigade headquarters in Uri, killing 19 army personnel and injuring several. It was one of the deadliest attacks on army personnel. Families of the martyrs speak to The Quint.
While some of them don't want war, the others are happy about the air strikes conducted by India against Pakistan.
However, they are angry as the government hasn't fulfilled promises or provided any compensation.
Father of martyr Pannalal Yadav, Uday Yadav had to struggle a lot before getting any kind of compensation.
“We got Rs 10 lakh compensation that too after fighting so much. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have even got it. That’s it, we got nothing else. It was given under the Akhilesh Yadav government.”Uday Yadav, Father of Martyr Pannalal Yadav.
“The government promised us many things. But we got only Rs 10 lakh under Akhilesh (Yadav’s) government. Nothing else. They had said they will build 3 houses, statue, park, road, electricity. But no facility has been provided,” he adds.
Families say that they were promised jobs, a statue and roads to be fixed but not a single promise has been met.
“They had promised many things. But not even one has been fulfilled. They had said they will give jobs to our family members. They said they will repair the broken roads. They had said they will build a statue for him. He sacrificed his life for the country. And still, the government doesn’t want to even build a statue or give jobs to his family.”Parvati, Martyr Rajesh Yadav’s Wife
Some families intend to keep fighting for the compensation that they had been promised by the government then.
“I have written countless letters to the government and administration but nothing has been done. If they don’t want to give us money, they should at least mention that in writing. I’m distressed and sad because of this. I’ve been running here and there and I spent all my money on this. If nothing happens, I’ve got all the proof and applications and I’ll approach the court.”Rajendra Pratap Singh, Martyr Rajesh Singh’s father
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