Hundreds attend veteran and NOK rally in JK's Udhampur

Over 400 veterans and the next of kin of martyred soldiers on Saturday attended a rally organised by the Army in Udhampur district of Jammu and Kashmir, a defence spokesman said.

The rally was conducted by 71 Sub Area headquarters of the Northern Command as a part of the series of Army's initiatives to commemorate 2019 as the 'Year of NoK', the spokesman said.

Northern Command Headquarters' Chief of Staff, Lt Gen S K Sharma, also attended the rally and felicitated veterans and the martyrs' next of kin, reassuring them that they would always remain inseparable members of the armed forces fraternity.

The focus of the rally was to address the grievances and resolve various anomalies in issues like disbursement of pension, land and legal cases being confronted by veterans and war widows, the spokesman said.

He said an awareness campaigns on various placement and welfare schemes for the ex-servicemen and their families were also organised by the officials of Zila Sainik Board, Army Placement Node, Jammu, Department of Pension Disbursement, Udhampur and Resettlement Zone, North.

It also provided the platform for interaction between veterans and resettlement or pension disbursing agencies in order to pro-actively seek and redress their grievances related to pension, the spokesman said.

He said a medical camp to include orthopaedic, opthalmology, ENT and dental care facility by Command Hospital was also organised on the occasion.

The rally was a major step forward for ameliorating the day-to-day problems of veterans and the NoK, the spokesman said, adding it gave a platform to the war widows and veterans to express their concerns directly to the relevant officials and agencies.