Kunwar Singh to get a statue, road in Delhi

New Delhi, June 19 (UNI) Acting on a complaint from a Delhi citizen, the Delhi government has decided to name a road after Babu Vir Kuwar Singh, one of the greatest heroes of the 1857 First War of Independence.

The Urban Development Department of the Delhi Government has asked the NDMC Chairman and the Commissioner of the Muncipal Committee of Delhi (MCD) in their areas to ''suggest a suitable unnamed road'' for being named as 'Babu Vir Kuwar Singh Marg'.

The Department of Urban Development got cracking after Radha Krishna Kumar, a lawyer of the Supreme Court, dashed off a latter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, requesting him to install a statue of the martyr and name a road after him as a gesture of paying tribute to him.

''With a heavy heart, I would like to say that the Government of India has uptil now ignored and virtually insulted the great warrior of the First War of Independence Babu Vir Kuwar Singh by forgetting his contribution,'' Mr Kumar said in his letter.

Pointing out that Kunwar Singh played a stellar role in arousing the patriotic fervour and spirit of independence during the 1857 War of Independence, he lamented that the Centre had not remembered him even after the lapse of more than 60 years of freedom.

''I am writing this letter as a patriotic and duty-bound citizen...to remind you the obligation which the country owes to the martyrs who sacrified their lives for the independence of the country,'' the lawyer wrote in his letter to the Prime Minister.

The letter was subsequently sent by the Prime Minister's Office to the Department of Urban Development, Delhi Goverment, which has now decided to take action on it.

UNI