Govt denied me dues: 26/11 hero

Firing a fresh salvo on the government, activist-turned-politician Arvind Kejriwal on Thursday raised an issue of a former National Security Guard (NSG) commando, who fought in the 26/11 attack.

Surender Singh, who was injured during the 26/11 attack, claimed that he has not got any financial benefits, including pension from the army. The ministry of defence on behalf of Indian army has refuted his claim, saying that he had received a bulk of his dues.

 “I was injured during the 26/11 attacks… I was then declared medically unfit to remain in force. I was deprived of my pension money and the government didn’t bear my medical expenses,” said Singh.

He claimed to have got a total of Rs3.78 lakh from the central government, state government and Haryana government. Singh alleged that many people, including cricketer MS Dhoni, had sent donations for the 26/11 heroes, which were never given to them. “Huge cash prizes are given for sportspersons and others but only Rs4 lakh for those who fought for the nation. We are not saying that prizes should not be given to sportspersons but our jawans should not be forgotten,” Kejriwal said.

The ministry of defence has claimed that Singh, who was from 2 Grenadiers of the army, did not approach higher authorities in the army to take up his issue.