Rural Development Minister Virender Kanwar inaugurates the war memorial in Una on Friday. Photo: Rajesh Sharma

Our Correspondent

Una, March 23

A war memorial, depicting the names of 87 defence personnel from Una district, who laid down their lives for the country, was inaugurated on Friday at the Municipal Park in Una town by Rural Development Minister Virender Kanwar.The memorial was constructed by the Una district unit of the Ex-Servicemen Service Council. Lt Gen VM Patil (Retd), national chairman of the council, and BJP state president Satpal Singh Satti were also present. After paying homage to the martyrs at the memorial, he said after coming to power, the BJP government in the state had revived the financial benefits to ex-servicemen, which were stopped by the previous Congress government. He said while the state government provided jobs to one person from the family of a soldier who died fighting for the country, the facility was now being extended to dependents of paramilitary officials also who had been martyred. Kanwar said there would be village honour boards which would describe the names and achievements of the distinguished persons of the panchayat.