MUDA site assured for Pulwama martyr’s widow

MUDA Commissioner Raghunandan to discuss in next Board meeting

Mysore/Mysuru: Following the publication of the report “MUDA Denies Site to Pulwama Martyr’s Widow” in Star of Mysore on Aug. 5, which highlighted how MUDA officers denied a site to the widow of a martyred soldier despite the Government’s direction, MUDA Commissioner A.N. Raghunandan has assured that she will receive a site soon.

Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) 82 Battalion soldier H. Guru was martyred on Feb. 14, 2019, in a bomb blast set by terrorists in Lethpur, Pulwama, Kashmir. After his death, his wife, Kalavathi, applied to MUDA for a free site, for which she was eligible.

In recognition of the soldier’s sacrifice, the Kendriya Sainik Board, Department of Ex-Servicemen Welfare & Rehabilitation, Bengaluru, recommended a free site for Kalavathi. There is also a Government order mandating that Urban Development Authorities across the State allocate free sites to the dependents of soldiers and officers who sacrifice their lives for the nation.

However, despite her eligibility, MUDA officials made Kalavathi run from pillar to post for over three years, only to tell her later that her application would be prioritised in the next site allocation, which never happened. This is a standard practice in most government and quasi-government offices — harass and force the applicant to give up. Indeed, officials without a ‘human face’ about which former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh had spoken to the nation.

Speaking to Star of Mysore, MUDA Commissioner Raghunandan said, he had examined Kalavathi’s application and that the issue would be addressed in the next MUDA Board meeting. “Apart from Kalavathi, four other families of martyred soldiers have applied for free sites. All the cases will be taken up and free sites will be allotted to them on priority, as per rules and on humanitarian grounds,” he said.

MUDA Commissioner Raghunandan thanked Star of Mysore for bringing the issue to light. “I learned about Kalavathi’s problem only after it was published in SOM and Mysuru Mithra. They were eye-openers and I thank them,” he said.