Had been swept away in a landslide while patrolling in December last

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala, June 14

A pall of gloom descended on Makroli village in Indora area of Kangra district as body of soldier Shammi Singh was cremated with full military honours on Thursday afternoon.A large number of locals, including BJP MLA from Indora, Rita Dhiman and BJP MLA from Gagret in Una district Rajesh Thakur participated in the last journey of the late soldier.Father of the deceased soldier Kirpal Singh is a farmer. “We were hoping against hope that my only son might return home. However, a call from army authorities a day before that his remains have been recovered shattered all our hopes. He was sole bread earner in the house as I just do farming in small piece of land we own in Makroli village”, he said.Sources here said that though Shammi Singh had gone missing about six months ago, his family failed to get any assistance from the state government. When asked, SDM Indora, Gaurav Mahajan said that since the body of the late soldier had not been recovered no assistance could be provided to his family. Now the case for assistance from the state government would be processed, he said.The remains of Shammi Singh, who had gone missing on December 11 fighting nature’s fury in Kashmir’s frontier Naugam Sector in Kupwara district last year, were recovered by the Army on Wednesday after snow melted.Shammi Singh was part of an operational team which was serving at the formidable heights along the Line of Control in Uri and got swept away due to a landslide while patrolling along with two other soldiers. While the dead bodies of other soldiers were recovered by the Army the last remains of Shammi Singh could only be recovered now after snow meltThe Army release said that search and rescue operations recommenced after the snow melted this year. The search ended on June 13. At a ceremony at BB Cantonment, Maj Gen S K Sharma, Chief of Staff Chinar Corps, paid homage to the martyr. His last remains were flown to his native Makroli village on Thursday.Shammi Singh (26) had joined the Army in 2012. He is survived by father, mother and two sisters.