Tribune News Service

Mandi, February 9

Ex-servicemen of the district have urged the state government to raise a war memorial in Mandi, which has been pending for a long time.Ex-servicemen held a meeting under the leadership of Brig Khushal Thakur (retd) in the town to discuss the issue and pressurise the state government to look into their long-pending demands.Talking to The Tribune here today, Brigadier Thakur said the ex-servicemen were demanding the setting up of a war memorial in the town but there was no progress in this direction so far.“The Union Health Minister had approved Rs 50 lakh for this project but the state government is silent over the utilisation of funds and even a detailed project report (DPR) was not shared with them,” he remarked.“There was a proposal of sainik sadan at Palace Colony but till now even the DPR of this project was not prepared by the state government for the purpose,” he said.He said there was an acute shortage of staff at district soldier board, Mandi, and the post of deputy director was lying vacant for the past few months, due to which ex-servicemen or their widows were suffering a lot.“Ex-servicemen were feeling dismayed because of the apathy of the state government towards their demands and we urge Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to look into the issue,” he added.