When Jayalalithaa's photo was displayed on Siachen martyr's coffin

New Delhi, Feb 17: At the funeral of a Siachen martyr in Tamil Nadu, an AIADMK minister displayed Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa's photo against his coffin.

The Tamil Nadu government had announced to give Rs 10 lakh each to the families of four Army jawans from the state killed in the avalanche in Siachen.

At the funeral of Sepoy G Ganesan from Madurai on Tuesday morning, Tamil Nadu Cooperatives Minister Sellur K Raju arrived to hand over a cheque of Rs 10 lakh to the family of the deceased.

According to a NDTV report, "The minister came to hand over a cheque of Rs. 10 lakh on behalf of his government, but he wanted to leave no doubts about who should get the credit. So Mr Raju produced a picture of the Chief Minister and held it against the coffin. He then gestured to the soldier's weeping mother to take a look at the person who had granted the money. The shattered mother folded her hands in gratitude."

Hundreds of people bid emotional farewell to Siachen bravehearts G Ganesan and S Kumar, whose last rites were performed with full state honours at Chokkathevanpatti in Madurai and Kumanan Kuzhu in Theni districts respectively.

While Sepoy Ganesan (25) was cremated at Chokkathevanpatti, Havildar Kumar (37) was buried at Kumanankuzhu.

The atmosphere at the funeral was highly emotional with friends, relatives and locals bidding tearful farewell.

District Collectors of Madurai and Theni - Veeraraghava Rao and Venkatachalam respectively - handed over cheques of Rs 10 lakh each to the bereaved families, the solatium announced by the state government.

The government has also assured job to one family member of the two deceased soldiers.

Ganesan, Kumar and eight other soldiers, including Havildar M Elumalai of Vellore and Sepoy N Ramamurthy from Krishnagiri of Tamil Nadu, got buried in snow after an avalanche hit their high-altitude post in Siachen glacier in Ladakh on February 3.

One of them, Lance Naik Hanumanthappa Koppad, found alive under the snow, also died on February 11 after battling for life.

OneIndia News