On a day when martyrs and personnel in the armed forces were remembered, the skewed ratio of money collected for their welfare in different States was highlighted during the ‘Armed Forces Flag Day’, here on Friday.
Ruing about the meagre amount collected for the welfare of families of personnel of the armed forces in Karnataka, compared to neighbouring States such as Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, Major General K.S. Kumbar (retired) said, “About Rs. 20 crore is collected in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, but in Karnataka, it is just a fraction of this.”
It was declared at the ceremony held at the Raj Bhavan that Rs. 1.55 crore was collected from last year’s fund. While the Department of Commercial Taxes topped the list of funds collected, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation too “exceeded target.” Among the districts, Uttara Kannada had the highest fund collection, followed by Hassan, Kodagu and Bidar.
Major General Kumbar also suggested that important landmarks or junctions could be named after martyrs such as Colonel Vasanth Venugopal, who was killed in an encounter with extremists in the Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir in 2007, or Lt. Col. Ajit Bhandarkar, who was killed in the Kargil operations in 1999.
