Father of Major killed in avalanche rues lack of basic facilities in border areas

After the kin of squadron leader Samir Abrol, who died in a Mirage 2000 crash in Bengaluru, raised questions about the system, the father of Major Nisheet Dogra, killed in an avalanche in Sikkim, on Tuesday rued the lack of basic facilities in the border areas.

"My son Major Nisheet Dogra of 7 Cavalry died today at the China border, Sikkim Jongri. There was no electricity. No generator working for over a week. Please improve conditions," tweeted Umesh Chander.

Nisheet Dogra was cremated in Indirapuram in Ghaziabad on Tuesday.

Speaking to IANS, Umesh Chander said everyone knew about the conditions.

"I was generally drawing attention to the fact that something should be done to improve these things," he said. "All I wanted to say was that infrastructure on the border should be improved."

Army chief General Bipin Rawat also paid tributes to Major Nisheet.

Reports said that Major Nisheet went missing following heavy snowfall and bilzzard in North Sikkim.

Earlier, Squadron Leader Abrol's brother Sushant had talked about warriors being given outdated machines as he blamed it on a corrupt system. His wife Garima pledged to get to the cause of the crash.

"How many more of these pilots have to give up their life to shake you up and make you realise there is something really wrong with the system?" she wrote in a post.

The lack of infrastructure on the eastern borders has been of concern for many years. The government has been paying special attention to improve the conditions as force levels have gone up in the area, particularly after the Doklam military stand-off with China in 2017.

--IANS

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