This ex-Army man fought for the country, received a bullet wound, and was awarded the Raksha medal and Sainya Seva medal for his gallant service. However, even after making rounds of Mantralaya for the past eight years, he has not got a ration card till date.
Hindurao Ingale, 62, a gunner with 216 Medium Regiment, had been to the front during the 1971 Indo-Pakistan war. He was shot in the leg while carrying cannons and officers to Chhamb in Jammu and Kashmir.
A resident of Hinganole village in Satara, Ingale has now been fighting the bureaucratic red tape to get his due. For a man who finds it difficult to make the two ends meet, getting food through the public distribution system will certainly be a boon. But then, he has not been among the lucky ones.
“The district administration gave me a card on which I can get three litres of kerosene per month. But my need is food, not kerosene,” said Ingale. “As an ex-army man, I am entitled to four bottles of liquor for Rs500 every month. I sell the liquor and buy food grains to survive.”
For a ration card, Ingale met former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and his successor Ashok Chavan. They had both directed the Satara district administration to issue him a ration card. But that too has not helped.
Whenever he comes to Mumbai, Ingale finds shelter at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST). He spends the entire day at Mantralaya and in the evening visits the BJP office at Nariman Point. “The BJP workers give me meal and money to feed my wife, Manka, who stays with me at CST,” said Ingal.
Ingale does not draw pension because he had opted to leave the Army in 1975. He worked as a labourer in his home town till 2001. “Now I am old, and I cannot work,” he said.
As if all this running from pillar to post was not enough, the medals which he preserved for years were lost near Mantralaya. Ingale has filed a complaint regarding this with the Marine Drive police station on December 20, last year.
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