In what can be described as a goodwill gesture, India’s largest public sector bank, State Bank of India has initiated several measures for helping the families of martyred soldiers in the Pulwama terrorist attack. In one of the moves, the SBI waived off loans of 23 CRPF soldiers martyred in the attack. In a similar way, the Confederation of Real Estate Developers Association of India, CREDAI, offered a two-bedroom house to families of CRPF personnel who lost their lives in the attack.
SBI in a statement said, “23 CRPF soldiers had availed of loans from the bank and the bank has decided to waive off all the outstanding loans with immediate effect”. The apex bank added that all the CRPF soldiers were the bank’s customers under defense salary package in which the bank provides insurance of Rs 30 lakh to defense personnel. Steps are taken by the bank to release the insurance money to the kin of the martyred soldiers in the Pulwama attack as soon as possible.
SBI Chairman, Rajnish Kumar also extended his condolences by saying that the loss of lives of the soldiers who always stand for the safety of the country is extremely distressing and disturbing to witness. “These initiatives by the bank are a small gesture towards the families who have faced irreparable loss,” added Rajnish Kumar. Moreover, the apex bank has created a UPI for ‘Bharat Ke Veer’ to raise funds for the family of martyrs.
On a similar note, Jaxay Shah, President of CREDAI, stated, “In a modest gesture of our solidarity and support to the grief-stricken families, CREDAI proposes to offer them one house each (2BHK) in the area or city of their state”. Shah went on to add that all 12,500 members of the apex body stand with the family of martyrs and pledge to help them.
Prior to this, the Reliance Foundation offered to look after the families of the martyred CRPF soldiers. “As a mark of our gratitude to the martyrs, Reliance Foundation expresses its readiness to assume full responsibility for the education and employment of their children and the livelihood of their families,” said the Reliance Foundation in a statement.
The nation is striving to do what it can and the aforementioned gestures show that the entire nation is standing behind the families of martyrs. It is not only up to the government to work towards the welfare of such families while the country as a whole needs to ensure that the kith and kin of martyred soldiers are taken care of.