Gandhian refuses Centre's honour over admin apathy

NAGPUR: A woman Gandhian has refused to accept an honour from the President at New Delhi at a function scheduled to be held today.
Kanchan Ben Shah has refused to accept the honour proposed to be bestowed upon her by President of India Pratibha Patil on August 9. The award was to be given at a function at Rashtrapati Bhavan on Kranti Diwas. Shah was among five freedom fighters from the state whom the Central government had decided to honour.The award was to be for their contribution in the freedom struggle with several others from across India.
However, the close companion of Mahatma Gandhi, Kanchan Shah (93), has refused to attend the function. She has criticized the functioning of government agencies, which, she claimed, informed her too late about the event. She said that she was informed telephonically by the Maharashtra government on July 30. However, the district administration did not have any information about the event. Finally, the district administration confirmed the event via a fax on August 5.
She has also said that it is ironical that no allowance or reservations were offered to the freedom fighters for travelling to New Delhi. "This is not an honour, but an insult to freedom fighters," said Shah. She said the administration also asked her to arrange for the journey herself.