NEW DELHI: Saloni, the 23-year-old daughter of Border Security Force (BSF) Sub-Inspector Ravindra Kumar, who died in a plane crash at Indira Gandhi International Airport in 2015, doesn’t think that the security forces take good care of families of deceased personnel.
“My father died in December 2015 in a BSF plane crash at IGI in which 10 persons died. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and other dignitaries assured the families of full support, but the reality was different,” Saloni told The Sunday Standard.
Saloni is the elder one of two siblings. Her 20-year-old brother, Avinash Satyam, is also a student. “Nine months later, while the BSF was still doing paperwork for the family pension, my mother died. The BSF officers told me that we would have to wait for a few more months for the pension as they would have to start paperwork afresh because after my mother’s death the pension would get transferred to me. Two years are not enough to decide the pension and transfer it from my mother to me,” Saloni said.
“We have not even got a job on compassionate grounds, and are running from pillar to post for that too,” she added. Saloni also blamed the Director General of Civil Aviation for not completing the investigation of the air crash, as the probe report is yet to be finalized.
Even as Saloni was waiting for the pension, she got a letter from the Central Public Works Department (CPWD) asking her to vacate the Lodhi Road government flat she is living in.
“We live alone in a flat which has bad as well as good memories. But we got a notice to vacate the flat or pay Rs 16,000 as rent if we stay after January 21. I sent letters to the CPWD to extend the date and give us a few more months, but the department has not replied. Tell me how will I move out from here? For rented accommodation I need money to pay rent. We two are students and are fighting for our rights,” said Saloni, who is managing her expenses with the money she received after the incident.
The BSF had given her a “memorandum” with promises of a job, funds and other aid to the family, just after the incident, but later BSF officers told Saloni that the “memorandum” had no signature or stamp on it, which made it a mere piece of paper.
Saloni lashed out at those she said tried to show that they stood with security forces personnel, who live for the country. “Till date no one has tried to help us, except one wing commander who is now retired. All people try to show that they are with the families of martyrs, but where are they? Why can’t they see that the children of a BSF sub-inspector who have lost both parents are struggling due to the BSF’s procedural lapses,” Saloni asked.