Army's outreach to kin of martyrs

Secubderabad: The Indian Army is dedicating 2019 as the 'Year of Next of Kin'. The Army aims to reach out to the next of kin of battle casualties and physical casualties to inform them of entitled financial benefits, welfare schemes and help in resolving their pension related problems.

Incorrect and incomplete documentation is common and causes severe hardships to the families of the deceased soldiers. To reach out to the next of kin in remote areas, a cycle expedition was flagged-off by General Officer Commanding, Bison Division, on Tuesday at Secundrabad.

The cycle expedition team comprising of one officer, one junior commissioned officer and six other ranks of 'Sehjra Gunners'of Bison Division embarked on a 9-day cycle expedition as part of an adventure activity from July 30 to August 07 covering a distance of approx 465 Km to reach out to next of kins settled in the remote foothill villages of three districts of Tamil Nadu namely Vellore, Tiruvannamalai and Krishnagiri.

Earlier this year in March, a team from 'Sehjra Gunners' interacted with the Zila Sainik / Sainik Welfare Officers of Vellore, Tiruvannamalai and Krishnagiri districts in Tamil Nadu as part of internal security recce. During the interaction, the district authorities apprised the recce teams that ex-servicemen located in remote/foothill areas of their district were not able to accrue benefits from various outreach initiatives launched by the Indian Army.

The remoteness of the area coupled with old age of individuals precludes the veterans (ex-servicemen/veer naris/next of kin) located in such areas to communicate their grievances to the authority, therefore, their grievances remain unaddressed.