Singer collects soil from 40 Pulwama bravehearts' houses to build memorial

To honour the bravehearts who lost their lives in the Pulwama terror attack, Umesh Gopinath Jadhav, a Bengaluru-based singer, has travelled to the houses of each of the 40 CRPF personnel to collect the soil and use in the construction of their memorial in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district.

The singer has travelled over 61,000 kilometres across the country to meet the bereaved families. He is the guest at the CRPF's Lethpora camp today.

"I have not got any donation or sponsorship for collecting the soil. My main purpose was to pay respect and homage to the jawans who lost their lives in the attack. I have travelled more than 61,000 kilometres to collect the soil. Their soil is for mother earth," Jadhav told reporters in Lethpora camp here.

"I am proud that I met all the families of Pulwama martyrs and sought their blessings. Parents lost their son, wives lost their husbands, children lost their fathers and friends lost their friends. I collected soil from their houses and their cremation grounds," he said.

Around 40 CRPF personnel lost their lives when a suicide bomber of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) rammed his explosive-laden vehicle on into a CRPF convoy on Srinagar-Jammu national highway.

Nationwide protests erupted against the dastardly terror attack even as the country bid goodbye to its bravehearts. Leaders across the party lines and civil society condemned the attack and called for an appropriate response.

Days after the attack, the Indian Air Force on February 26 carried out multiple aerial strikes at JeM terror camps in Pakistan's Balakot, killing a "large number" of terrorists and destroying their infrastructure.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a tweet paid tribute to the Pulwama bravehearts and said that the country will never forget their martyrdom.