Shariq.Majeed@timesofindia.comLudhiana: As the birth anniversary of Param Vir Chakra recipient Flying Officer Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon is on Friday, the residents of his village are unhappy with the treatment meted out by the govt to the village of the martyr and aver that it remained neglected.The late officer’s 42-year-old nephew, Amardeep Singh, who along with hismother Jagnandan Kaur lives in Rajguru Nagar, Ludhiana, and is the holderof the PVC medal of his uncle, also is not happy with the condition of thevillage.Amardeep told TOI that though the central govt has remembered his uncle’ssacrifice, the state govt has not done much. He added that the villageshould have an infrastructure named after him, but that has not been done.Gurjit Singh, former sarpanch of the village, said that they have beengiving a memorandum of demands comprising 15 demands of the village to theconcerned authorities, but not much has been done on those. He added thatthey passed a resolution for naming the govt senior secondary school afterShaheed Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon, but that has not been done till now, withthe result that the students don’t get necessary documents in the name ofthe great martyr.Singh said that the village should have something after the martyr, but itis unfortunate that the same has not been done. He added that the conditionof the infrastructure in the village is not good either and they receivefewer funds for the development of the village. Gurpreet Singh, sarpanch ofthe village, said that they started work for cleaning the pond in thevillage and contributed some money on their own, but as they didn’t getfunds, work was stopped. He added that also around 20% work related to thelaying of the sewerage system couldn’t be done and was stopped for aroundsix months due to lack of funds.The sarpanch said that the village did get Rs 5 lakh, but the same is beingused for streetlights.Even as the sarpanch of the village claimed that the condition of roads inthe village is better, TOI found potholes on the roads in the village atmany places.The former sarpanch of the village alleged that the village doesn’t getmany funds from the govt.AAP Halqa Incharge K N S Kang said that villages including Issewal aregetting grants from the state govt. He added that Shaheed Nirmaljit Sekhonwas his father-in-law’s roommate as he too was a pilot and they respect hissacrifices for the nation.Kang further said that during his visit to the village, minister HarjotSingh Bains asked the village panchayat to give proposals for thedevelopment works in the village, including construction of a memorial inNirmaljit Singh Sekhon’s name on the road outside the village, but theyhaven’t given it.Can be added as boxes:Box 1: Principal of the govt senior secondary school, Bhupinder Kaur, saidthat on the birth anniversary of the great martyr, they do hold specialprayers at the school besides making students aware about his sacrifice forthe nation.Deputy Commissioner Himanshu Jain suggested that he has taken up the matterof naming of the govt school at Issewal after PVC Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon.Box 2: Village Rurka remembers the sacrifice of the great martyr.Villagers have installed a picture on the wall of a religious place in thevillage.Sukhwinder Singh, an AC repair mechanic at the village, said that thevillage is Nanka (village of mother of Shaheed Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon) andthey do remember him, so have installed a picture.Jagjit Singh, husband of village sarpanch Kamaldeep Kaur, said that theyhave a club named after Shaheed Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon which organisessports competitions. He added that there is a high-tech sports ground and agovt high school named after the great martyr in the village.Singh said that they are proud of the fact that Rurka Kalan’s name isassociated with Shaheed Nirmaljit Singh Sekhon.— shariq.majeed@timesgroup.com
