Villagers donate bricks, cement bags to build CRPF martyrs'

In a unique show of community support for a CRPF martyr, an 'akhara' is being built in his memory in Haryana for which each villager would either donate a brick, a cement bag or a day's wage.

CRPF personnel Ram Mehar, a resident of Kheri Man Singh village in Karnal district, was killed in a Naxal attack in Chhattisgarh recently.

The family of Mehar, who liked wrestling, has donated one and a half kanals of land for the wrestling ring. Other villagers are too pooling in to build the memorial.

The initiative is the effort of a Chandigarh resident, Sanjeev Rana who launched 'Ek eent Shahid ke Naam' (One brick in the memory of martyr).

Under it he motivated people to donate at least one brick or a sack of cement in memory of those who laid down their lives in the line of duty.

He said people should not rely on the government for the construction of memorials or institutions for the martyrs.

With the involvement of locals, any memorials can be built as martyrs belong to the people first.

"I met the family of martyr Ram Mehar and his younger brother, Ramesh Kumar, told me that his brother liked wrestling," he said.

The family runs a makeshift wrestling ring in the village where around fifty youngsters practice daily and a few of them have even made their mark in the Army in the past.

"The family wanted to set-up a proper facility for wrestling thus it was decided to make a proper wrestling ring in the village," he said.

The construction has started after collecting the building material from locals who donated bricks, sand and cement. It would be functional in about two months.

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)