It has exactly been 13 days that he and his friends had gone missing at Himachal Pradesh, while on a patrol duty in Indo-China border. As the army truck stops in front of his house, loud wails and cries emanate.

It’s not only Govind’s family, but his entire neighbourhood who stand crying. They are still unable to believe, their favourite son is not coming back in person.

A massive crowd gathered at Binnaguri Football Ground, where people from all walks of life are assembled to pay their last respects.

Present are Binnaguri and Sukna GCO along with an array of Army officials. Conspicuously absent are the Alipurduar District Administrative Officials – representatives of the Govt of West Bengal, none of whom took time out to pay their respects. The only attending official is Banarhat Police IC.

The homage to the Martyr who died while making sure our borders were safe lasted for nearly 3 hours. School children, teachers, social workers, friends, neighbours completely unknown strangers were assembled.

After the homage,  a rally started from the Binnaguri Football Ground, with the air resonating with the cries of “Bharat Mata ko Jai”… “Govind Chettri amar rahos…”

As the rally progressed, the General Officer-in-Command went to the family members and talked to them, and said, ‘we are all with you, the entire armed forces are with you. Your son became a sahid for the country, we will not forget him… if ever you face any problems, please come to me…”

He hoped Govind’s son joins as an officer in the Indian army in the future.

Gradually Govind’s body was taken to Gairkata river, and with each minute, the rally of people standing on both sides of the road in respect of the martyr kept on getting longer, and chants of “Bharat Mata ki Jai” kept on getting louder.

This is the legacy of a martyr, they inspire the whole nation to unite.

We extend our heartfelt gratitude to the family members of Sahid Govind Chettri, it is their sacrifices that has helped made our country safer. We also stand with them in their hour of grief. May Gods grant them strength to overcome this terrible loss.

#JaiHind #JaiGorkha

Special Report: Nand Poudel

The post Govind Bahadur Chettri: The Legacy of a Martyr appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.

Three troopers struck by the avalanche are still missing.

Six troopers of the Jammu and Kashmir Rifles were buried under an avalanche that struck on February 20 near the Tibet border in the the state’s Kinnaur district.

Deputy Commissioner Kinnaur Gopal Chand said that “the body was found under the thick blanket of snow. The body is being sent to the Army camp at Pooh for postmortem after which it would be sent to jawan’s native place. Search operation is going on a war footing.”

He added, “over 300 men of the Army, the ITBP, police and border forces are engaged in searching the bodies of the remaining three jawans Videsh Chand, Arjun Kumar and Nitin Rana. Two days back, the body of Rishi, a resident of Nalagarh in Solan district, was recovered. The search operations are severely hit by bad weather.”

Officials said about 500 personnel have been deployed to search for the troopers.

A lot of fresh snow had accumulated at the avalanche site, 350 km from the state capital, and fresh snow has made trekking to the area a risky proposition.

Many mountaineers from the area are also involved in the search operations where specially-trained rescue dogs, rock drills and chain saws have been deployed.

The state government said that two separate parties of the Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) were patrolling Namgia Dogri when the avalanche hit.

Five ITBP troopers were also injured in the disaster.

The Western Command Chief of Staff Lt Gen P.M. Bali visited the site of the avalanche and has assured that all-out efforts are underway to find the missing army men.

We mourn the tragic loss of Rfn Govind Chhetri and his friends, and pray to God to give strength to his family to overcome this terrible loss.

Special Report: Nand Poudel

The post Rfn Govind Chhetri of 7 JAK Rifles No More appeared first on The Darjeeling Chronicle.