A girl wages battle for war hero’s memorial

mane rajuri (sangli): it took a soldier's daughter to motivate this sleepy village into finally taking a local war hero's memorial project seriously. the village was home to pandurang salunkhe, who died a hero's death during the indo-pak war of 1971. he was posthumously awarded the param vir chakra (pvc), the army's ultimate honour, in recognition of his brave effort.mane rajuri has for long been known as a soldier's village, with most families contributing at least one member to the country's defence forces. naturally, soon after salunkhe's martyrdom, the villagers resolved to set up a statue in his memory. a committee was formed accordingly. the statue was commissioned and completed. however, for years together, the committee has been deliberating over a prime location for the memorial. interesting the army has named is pune housing colony after salunkhe, and local defence personnel pay an annual tribute to salunkhe's memory. however, frustrated by the inordinate delay in setting up the memorial in the hero's hometown, local girl rupali jamdade, daugther of a retired soldier, threatened to immolate herself on thursday (december 6), which is salunkhe's memorial day. with rupali threatening to go ahead with her plan tension built up in the village. finally tehsildar hemant nikam, police inspector v.d. patil had to intervene, and rupali withdrew her threat after the memorial committee, headed by kisan landge, gave a written promise to complete the memorial project withing 30 days.