Capt Tushar Mahajan

Deepanker Gupta

Udhampur, February 9

Thousands of residents today paid tributes to Captain Tushar Mahajan on his first death anniversary. His family members, however, said all promises made by the authorities after their son’s death remained unfulfilled till date.A year ago, Captain Tushar Mahajan of the Army’s 10 Para (Special Forces) had laid down his life fighting three to five holed up terrorists at Pampore where he attained martyrdom.Several promises, including renaming of Udhampur railway station by his name, installation of statue of the Shaurya Chakra awardee in Udhampur city and constructing a mountain park in his name were announced by political leaders at the time of his death but none has turned into reality till date.Tushar’s father Dev Raj Gupta said, “It is a matter of pride for my family that our son gave up his life for the nation. Before my son’s martyrdom, I was known as a retired lecturer but after his sacrifice, I am proud to be called Tushar’s father. Today, after a year, as thousands have come to pay their tributes, all of them are proud of my son.”He said, “We know that renaming of the railway station and installation of my son’s statue will not bring him back but it will help in keeping his story alive. We still hope that political leaders will soon fulfil their promises. It is sad that the state government was reluctant to write a letter to the Ministry of Railways recommending that the Udhampur railway station be renamed as Capt Tushar Mahajan Railway Station.”