War widow wins long battle to open petrol bunk

BANGALORE: A petrol bunk allotted to a martyr's wife Ranjini Mohan was inaugurated by Lt. Gen. Gautam Banerjee, chief of staff, central command and Colonel Commandant of BEG and Centre on Monday at Hoskote. It was allotted to the wife of late Maj. Mohan Gangadharan by the Indian Oil Corporation under the quota for war widows.
Lt. Gen. Banerjee remembered the sacrifice of Maj.Gangadharan, who was awarded the Shaurya Chakra (posthumous), when he died fighting ULFA militants on Feb. 23, 1999 in Naogam, Assam.
The ex-chairman of the legislative council, Karnataka, V R Sudarshan, Karnataka & Kerala Sub Area Commander Brig. P S Ravindranath and senior IOC officials were present on the occasion. Sudarshan suggested the government set up a single window agency to speed up allocation of such outlets to war widows.
The 59 Engineer Regiment, to which Maj. Gangadharan belonged, presented a plaque to Ranjini Mohan. She told reporters it had taken five years of persistent efforts to start the outlet though she was given the letter of intent in 2004 as it was difficult to locate land suitable for the fuel retail outlet.