Madhya Pradesh to set up War Memorial

Bhopal, Jul 11: A war memorial would be set up in Madhya Pradesh to honour our war heroes and to give an account of the exploits of our soldiers on the battlefront, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said.

Expressing dismay over the fact that there was no war memorial in the state to remember the sacrifices made by 30,000 jawans while defending our borders, he said future generations should not forget the great contribution of our martyrs.

Speaking at the Col Ajay Mushran memorial lecture organised by M P Foundation in New Delhi yesterday, Mr Chouhan said the stadium at Narsinghpur would be named after Col Mushran, a former state minister.

''Whatever land required to set up defence colonies in Bhopal and Jabalpur would be provided by the government'', he said, adding defence personnel should be given due recognition for services rendered considering that they worked under most difficult circumstances.

Referring to the disparity in pay scales, he hoped that a separate pay commission would be formed for the defence services, official sources said.

Army Chief Gen Deepak Kapoor exhorted the youth to choose the army as a career option.

Eminent people from the defence services who have their roots in Madhya Pradesh were also honoured on this occasion. The foundation is headed by noted lawyer Vivek Tankha.

UNI