Ex-NSG commando claims non-payment of 26/11 dues

Ex-NSG commando claims non-payment of 26/11 dues

Himanshi Dhawan TNN 

New Delhi: A former NSG commando, who had killed two terrorists at the Taj Mahal Hotel during the 26/11 siege but was rendered completely deaf due to injuries he suffered, came on Arvind Kejriwal’s platform on Thursday to allege that he had been handed a raw deal and deprived of pension and disability benefits due to him despite risking his life for the country.
    Haryana resident Naik Surender Singh, who was compulsorily retired following injuries he suffered during Operation Tornado, alleged that he was forced to run from pillar to post for the past 13 months for money due to him.
    Talking to reporters, Singh and Kejriwal demanded an inquiry into the funds given as donations by the public post-Mumbai terror attack alleging that the money was selectively distributed among commandos leaving many out. The two said that a callous government had left heroes to beg, and demanded to know the amount of money NSG had received from the public and what had been done with cheques signed by contributors such as Indian cricket captain M S Dhoni, Rohan Motors, Royal Western India Turf Club in favour of the commandos.
    Government denied the charge of insensitivity towards the commando, but acknowledged that there was a delay of 13 months in the disbursement of pension to Singh who was originally from the Grenadiers’ unit of the Army.
    Singh, the sole earning member of a family of five and now completely deaf, will start getting his pension only from this month. He forcefully countered ministry of defence’s (MoD) claim that Rs 19 lakh of the total Rs 31 lakh due to him in benefits had already been released. He produced bank statements to show that the account into which the money was supposed to be credited never got any. The account has only Rs 10 lakh. He maintained that he has so far received only Rs 4 lakh from various sources.
    `Even the citation certificate given to me is worthless since it did not have the signature of the Director General of NSG,’’ said a dejected Singh.
    The timing of the press conference, underlining Kejriwal’s growing ability to attract people with diverse grievances against the government, was significant. The allegation of indifference to heroes who had combated the Mumbai attackers comes a day after terrorist Ajmal Kasab was executed, and days before the fourth anniversary of the terror attacks, and sought to tap into the mood in the wake of Kasab’s hanging. The tactic worked too, forcing the government to come up with a prompt and detailed response and to argue, in a first, its case on micro-blogging site, Twitter.
    The emotive nature of the allegation knocked the ministries of defence and information and droadcasting, and the NSG into a team as they tried to fend off Singh’s charges. “I left for the Operation without seeing my newborn son. I gave my 100% to the country but this government has left me with nothing. I don’t want money…I want an inquiry into the money.”
    Singh suffers from 100% hearing disability diagnosed as sensory neural hearing loss in both ears and has splinters in both legs after a grenade thrown by the terrorists blew up on Nov 29, 2008. “Jo w a h a n l a d a a i t h i , w h o b a h a r w a l o n s e t h i . A p n e a a d m i y o n s e l a d n a m u s h k i l h o r a h a h a i. (The fight in Mumbai was against outsiders, but fighting with my own countrymen is proving difficult.),’’ he lamented.
    He denied the government’s claim that his failure to get a Contributory Health Insurance Scheme Card was the reason why he had to spend Rs 1 lakh from his own pocket for the treatment of injuries he sustained while battling the terrorists holed up in Taj Mahal Hotel. 
    Government agreed to investigate the charge that money donated by Royal Western India Turf Club for the NSG commandos who fought the 26/11 attackers, was given to only four of them.
    “This is a country where a cricketer gets Rs 1 crore just to swing his bat but we force people who have risked their lives to beg for their rights. Who will send their husband, wife or son to fight for the country,’’ Kejriwal and his colleagues said.
    He claimed that both Taj and Oberoi hotels received $28 million in insurance money by August, 2009.
    Charging the government to prove that he had even received a “single paisa’’ from them, Singh said that he and his colleagues had been threatened not to air their grievances publicly or they would lose the funds they had received. Singh said that he was declared medically unfit 14 years three months and 10 days in to service and thrown out of the army forcing him to lose pension benefits due after 15 years of service. 
26/11: Four years on, Mumbai fire brigade yet to receive President’s medals 
Mumbai: Three years after the President’s medals were announced for seven of Mumbai’s firemen for rescue operations during the 26/11 attacks, they are yet to receive the medals. Several firemen bravely saved over 400 people from the Taj Mahal and Trident hotels.
    The prestigious fire service medal for gallantry was announced on August 15, 2009, for seven of them: former chief fire officers A V Sawant and P D Karguppikar, assistant divisional fire officer S G Amin, station officers K F D’souza and S W Rane, fireman Yuvraj Pawar and driver-operator Moses Pugaonkar.
    Senior fire brigade officials said the medals have arrived and are with the state government. According to protocol, the medals are to be handed over to them by the governor in a special programme. Strangely, senior state government officials said they want to give away the medals at a big function and hence are waiting to organise a collective function for all other firemen who have got these medals in the past and will do so in the near future.
    In fact, fire brigade officials said the President’s medals named for different fire brigade officers have not been handed over to them since 1997.
    “We were rescuing people during continuous firing and grenade explosions. We were happy that our efforts were recognised when the medals were announced,” said a fire brigade official who was one of the first few firemen to reach Taj hotel when the terrorists set it on fire. The people recommended for the award however said they have been receiving the financial benefit of Rs 450 per month that comes with the medal. TNN