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Patil gives up her controversial land allotment in Pune | The President Pratibha Devisingh Patil has decided to forgo the allotment of accommodation proposed to be made for her as her post-retirement home in Pune following a controversy that the plot was meant for war widows. The
President's Secretariat has said said that it is unfortunate that she is now being
portrayed by some people as one who, by agreeing to accept a defence accommodation
for her post-retirement home, is insensitive to the cause of war widows and ex-servicemen.
It said has always been proud of our brave jawans who are ever-ready to display
their spirit of sacrifice while defending our borders. She has the highest regards
for our war widows who have lost their dear ones for the sake of security and
integrity of the nation. To express solidarity, boost their morale and to gain
first hand experience of the hardships faced by our Defence Forces, she visited
far flung army establishments like those in Tangdhar, Bhadarwah, Leh, to name
a few, and several distant inhospitable forward areas in the North East. She would
be the last person to ever think of dislocating or coming in the way of creating
facilities for our war widows and ex-servicemen. Women’s issues have always been
her concern and those of war widows particularly occupy a very special place in
her mind. She has worked relentlessly towards their welfare and would like people
to know that as Governor of Rajasthan she personally wrote to 1192 war widows
to help resolve their problems. Here is an article which appeared in the Hindustan
Times a few years ago which said: “Away from the media glare, Rajasthan Governor
Pratibha Patil is quietly attending to problems of hundreds of war widows. She
has asked the war widows to contact or see her personally. Over 1000 letters have
been posted in the past one month as the Raj Bhavan gets deluged with responses.
Now, Patil receives around two dozen letters every day while a number of widows
of martyrs meet her personally with problems. Their letters are being forwarded
to the concerned department in the State Government for suitable action.” (Anjul
Tomar, Jaipur May-2, 2005). As Governor, she had instructed all the District Collectors
of Rajasthan to inform her regularly about the progress in resolving the problems
of war widows. Under her directions, a State Level Committee was constituted with
the Director, Sainik Kalyan Board, Rajasthan as its Chairman to address the issues
affecting the war widows on a priority. The District Collectors were also instructed
to organize camps at Sub-Divisional level for hearing the war widows and to solve
their grievances expeditiously. She ensured that the newly constructed 'War Widows
Hostel and Rehabilitation Centre' at Jaipur was allocated Rs. 2 crore from the
Amalgamated Fund of the Governor to facilitate its smooth functioning. The District
Sainik Kalyan Officers were invited to Raj Bhavan, Jaipur and were advised to
make wide publicity about the Hostel and Rehabilitation Centre so that no war
widow was denied the facility for want of information. Once there was a news item
in Dainik Bhaskar, Jaipur Edition of 9th March 2005 that the Headquarters of Western
Army Command would be temporarily shifted to the War Widows Hostel & Rehabilitation
Centre. She took up the matter with the Chief Minister of Rajasthan immediately.
The then Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje promptly responded through her letter,
that the headquarters of Western Army Command would be relocated elsewhere and
that the War Widows Hostel & Rehabilitation Centre would not be utilized as Headquarters
of Western Command or for any other purpose. If as Governor she had pursued the
matters of war widows with such passion and concern, and if she had objected to
even the temporary shifting of the Western Command Headquarters to the War Widows
Hostel and Rehabilitation Centre in Jaipur, would she ever think of dislocating
or come in the way of creating accommodation for war widows or occupy a property
allegedly meant for any such purpose as her post retirement home? The accommodation
proposed to be allocated to her by the Ministry of Defence was never indicated
as one earmarked for war widows. It was to be allotted to her for use as her post
retirement residence only during her lifetime with no rights of ownership, transfer
lease, etc. |
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