2 Bengal villages wait for bodies of soldiers killed in Galwan clash

Grief and anger marked the mood in two villages of West Bengal, the residents of which are waiting patiently for the bodies of their two fallen heroes to return from the icy heights of Ladakh's Galwan Valley.

The bodies of the two soldiers from West Bengal, who were among the 20 Indian Army personnel killed in a clash with Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh's Galwan Valley, are scheduled to arrive at their homes on Thursday evening, an Army spokesperson said here.

Women in Havildar Bipul Roy's Bindipara village in Alipurduar district have abstained from cooking food in remembrance of their beloved son.

A stage has been hurriedly set up by the slain soldier's friends for laying the casket upon its arrival to the tiny north Bengal hamlet surrounded by forests and tea gardens.

Roy's body will be flown to the Bagdogra Airport near Siliguri, from where the coffin will be brought to Bindipara by road, the Army spokesperson said.

Hundreds of kilometres away, in Sepoy Rajesh Orang's Belgoria village in Birbhum district, people from near and far have thronged the slain soldier's hutment to pay their tributes.

The casket carrying his body will reach the Panagarh Air Force base in West Burdwan district in a military aircraft in the afternoon and will then be taken to Belgoria by road, the officer said.

Members of Orang's family were too grief-stricken to only say that state minister Ashish Banerjee had visited them in the morning to convey his condolences.