KENDRAPARA: Nibedita Mallick, widow of Kargil martyr Sachitananda Mallick, has decided to visit the war memorial in Kargil on her own as the State Government has not come to her help till date. Two years back, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had promised Nibedita that the Government would make arrangement to send her to the memorial to pay tribute to her husband, who was a soldier of 12 Mahar Regiment. However, the promise was never fulfilled. He was martyred during the Kargil war on June 28, 1999, .
“The Chief Minister had assured me to fulfil my wish to visit the war memorial in Kargil. But I have not received any communication from the Government regarding my visit to Kargil till now,” she said. The martyr’s widow said she has decided to visit the memorial, located at Drass sector of Kargil, along with her son on her own. “I have recently booked air tickets from Bhubaneswar to Srinagar for our visit to Kargil,” said Nibedita.
She said the Kargil War Memorial built by Indian Army in memory of soldiers who laid down their lives in the Kargil war of 1999 has names of 559 martyrs including her husband. “I lived with my husband for only five years. My son was only three years old when my husband was killed. I have lived all these years without him and our son, who is now 21, has been brought up amidst stories of gallantry,” said Nibedita.
When contacted, Pradipta Mohapatra, Additional Secretary in the Chief Minister’s Office said, “Last year, we had written a letter to the Home department to arrange Nibedita’s visit to Kargil and the officials had intimated the Director General of Police to provide all assistance to her. We will direct the Home department to work expeditiously to help her visit the war memorial.”