Nisha Galande’s world came crashing down on September 18, 2016, when she got a call from her husband’s regiment informing her of his death. Lance Naik Chandrakant Galande of 6 Bihar regiment was one of the victims of the Uri attack. Around two-and-a-half years later, Nisha’s struggles continue. She and her two children have been told to vacate their Army-provided accommodation in Pune within a year. They have no place to go.

Both the Army and the Maharashtra government promised free education to the children and a job for her, but none of these has happened. Nisha is not alone. Many other Army widows in Pune and across the state face the same uncertainty thanks to unkept promises made by the administration.

Nisha, 28, says after her husband’s death, many people including “big politicians” came to her home. “They made promises of a job and free education for my children but none of the promises have been fulfilled. Army representatives who came for my husband’s funeral told my family the education of my both sons will be sponsored till higher secondary school. But it was just an empty statement made at the funeral.” Army Public School (APS) Ghorpadi, has asked me to pay my son’s school fees.”

Lance Naik Galande was from Jashi village in Maan tehsil of Satara. Nisha’s children Shreyas and Jay are six and three years old. Shreyas is in upper kindergarten in Army Public School (APS), Ghorpadi, and Jay will start pre-school at APS next year. Last year, APS told Nisha to pay Shreyas’s school fees.

“When I told them the Army has waived my son’s education fees, they asked if I have anything in writing. I told them I don’t, but the Army told me they would sponsor my children’s education. I didn’t pay my son’s tuition fees for the last two years (for LKG and UKG), believing the Army would take care of it. But now I’ve been told to pay the tuition fees for the last two years.” The amount is ₹16,000. Nisha now says she’ll probably have to pay her second son’s school fees next year too.

Nisha is also worried about the uncertainty of their accommodation. After her husband’s death, she was told to vacate the Army accommodation within two years. She has one year left. “It will be really difficult for me to find a place with my two children. We don’t even have a place to go to. We should at least be given facilities in the Army quarters till my kids are older, or a flat at a concessional rate at the Army Welfare Housing Organisation. I don’t even have a job. I don’t know what will happen in the future.”

Sonali Farate, the widow of Lance Naik Saurabh Farate, has a similar story to tell. A gunner of the 131 AD regiment, Saurabh Farate died in a terrorist attack on an Army convoy in Pampore, Jammu & Kashmir, on December 17, 2016. Two other soldiers died in the attack. Farate was a resident of Hadapsar in Pune and had joined the Army in 2004.

After her husband’s death, Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis, Sharad Pawar, Supriya Sule and other politicians met Sonali at various times. The CM assured Sonali that she would be given a job and that the government would take care of the education of her three-year-old twin daughters. Two years later, none of these promises have had any fruition. She even went to Mantralay (Ministry) in Mumbai last year to submit an application for the same but received no response.

Sonali currently lives in Army quarters in Pune but, like Nisha, has been told to vacate in a year. She currently receives a pension of ₹30,000 from the Army but the amount will be halved once her husband’s service period of 17 years ends.

“This year, I have to admit my twin daughters to preschool at APS and pay the school fees of ₹40,000,” she says. “After a year, the pension will become half as the service period of my husband will be completed. I don’t have many resources. I  really don’t know how am I going to deal with expenses in the future. Although welfare money has been given to me, it’s not going to last forever. I need a job which will help me raise my kids.”

Sonali’s biggest worry now is that she’ll have to leave the Army accommodation in a year. “I don’t have a house. I don’t know where I will go. Over here, there is a sense of security because everyone here is from the Army. I have two little daughters, I also have to take care of their education. In the future, accommodation and my children’s education will be my biggest challenges. They should give separate accommodation to all war widows or they should give us flats at concessional rates in housing societies developed for Army personnel. “

Sonali, who has a graduate degree, said she applied for a job at the Southern Command canteen but was told she could only be hired as a billing assistant. “The canteen is full of civilians, can’t they accommodate veernaris (widows of soldiers)? They should give jobs to us as per our educational qualification—no more, no less.”

In April 2018, the Maharashtra government issued a notification to provide five acres of agricultural land to war widows. Neither Sonali nor Nisha have received the land. Sonali says, “Both of us applied for the land at Sainik Welfare Board last year but have not received any response from them yet.”

Nisha and Sonali said many social and political organisations invited them to honour them after their husbands’ deaths but this was only for “political gain”. “These organisations make big claims about helping us in their programmes but don’t do anything later.”

Sneha Kulmithe, 25, is the widow of soldier Vikas Kulmithe of 6 Bihar who died in the Uri attack. She tells Newslaundry that she hopes the widows of the CRPF soldiers who died in Pulwama don’t go through what she did. “They should be provided with jobs so they can raise their families. When my husband died, many influential people and politicians came to our house and made promises of providing a job to me and taking care of the education of my daughter. But after a few days, everybody forgets the martyrs and their families. If we meet them for some work, we have to remind them that we are the widows of Army soldiers.”

Sneha now lives in Yawatmal with her three-year-old daughter Jigyasa. Like Sonali and Nisha, the state government promised to give her a job but still hasn’t done so. “For four days people talk about martyrs and visit their families but afterwards, they forget about us. It’s then that widows like me realise we are all alone in the world. In order to support ourselves and our family during those crucial times, we need a job. The job is of utmost importance because it will help us to raise and educate our kids—and help us fight the loneliness in our lives. Jobs are the most important for veernaris.”

Jigyasa was nine months old when Vikas Kulmithe died. Sneha applied for a job at an Army unit-run institution but the job was at a far-off place and she couldn’t go there alone with her infant daughter. “They should at least consider our circumstances and provide us with the job accordingly.”

Newslaundry contacted the Additional Directorate General of Public Information of the Army on Saturday regarding these promises of free education made to the Uri widows. The story will be updated when a reply is received.

Additional chief secretary Praveen Pardeshi told Newslaundry: “We are providing five acres (about two hectares) of land to the wives of Army and paramilitary soldiers who died in action. Please send us the names of Army soldiers’ wives who have not received the land yet. I assure you that they will be given land in the next 15 days.”

No end to her struggles

Varsha Chowgale’s story is different but also highlights the hypocrisy of people in authority when it comes to dealing with families of Army men.

Varsha’s husband, Sepoy Ashok Chowgale of EME 253 regiment, was not killed in action but died in a road accident. Posted in Jammu & Kashmir, he had come to Sangali in Maharashtra to meet his family and was involved in a road mishap on August 16, 2016. Chowgale was admitted to Command Hospital in Pune but succumbed to his injuries 13 days later, on August 29, 2016.

Varsha met CM Devendra Fadnavis on September 17, 2017, in Aurangabad, where she gave him an application describing her Army background and her husband’s death. She asked for a job in the police department under the Army quota. Two months later, she received a letter from the Department of Personnel and Training of the Maharashtra Police asking her to apply online for the police recruitment exam.

The letter from the Department of Personnel and Training, Maharashtra Police.

The letter also mentioned a government resolution by which wives and family members of deceased soldiers could apply for police recruitment under a quota. Newslaundry has accessed this letter.

In July 2018, Varsha appeared for the exam. “I first gave the tests (physical and written) of the Thane Police. I qualified but I don’t know why I wasn’t hired. In the same month, I appeared for the police recruitment exam at Satara where I got a job. Instead of recruiting me under the Army quota, they recruited me under ‘Anukampa’ (recruitment on compassionate grounds).” Under Anukampa, a person doesn’t have to appear for exams. Varsha said she cleared her exams and told the authorities she was supposed to be hired under the Army quota but was ignored.

On July 29, 2018, Varsha joined the Satara Police. Three months later, on October 18, she was fired. During this period, she was assigned menial jobs only, like cleaning the houses of senior officers and the police headquarters.

She says: “After the death of my husband, I thought I have to take his place for my two sons (aged five and four). I reduced my weight from 85  kg to 60 kg to clear the police exam. I struggled a lot to clear it. But after joining instead of sending me for training, I was kept at the police headquarters in Satara. I had to clean the house of senior officers and the police headquarters. I had to cut the grass in the garden, serve water to police officials, arrange chairs for functions. I worked like a servant over there. I was not even allowed to eat in the police mess.”

In October, without any warning, Varsha was asked to leave. She says she wasn’t even paid a salary for her three months of work. “When I asked them why they’re removing me, they said I don’t fit under ‘Anukampa’ recruitment. I told them to hire me under Army quota, even at the time of joining. The Satara Police said I scored only 48 marks while the cut-off is 50 under Army quota. I asked them to show me my marksheet but they refused, and asked me to leave.”

Varsha’s application to the CM after she was removed from her job.

Varsha says the government resolution clearly says families of those who died in Army service can apply for government jobs under the Army quota. Newslaundry has accessed a copy of the resolution.

“I went to Mumbai more than four times to meet the CM and additional chief secretary but was told he wasn’t available. I wrote to both but have received no response.”

Praveen Pardeshi, the additional chief secretary, said he “personally chased this case”. “But this facility is only available to the families of soldiers who died on the front. There are many soldiers who died in civil accidents, so there are not enough out-of-turn jobs for them. I have personally followed this case and I thought that she was a war widow. But later it turned out that her husband died in an accident and not on the border.”

When asked why Varsha had been recruited then for three months after verification, he said, “She didn’t bring these facts to our notice: that he didn’t die on the border. The verification was simply that her husband is dead and she’s the wife of a soldier.”

Varsha’s name on the list for Anukampa recruitment.

During her recruitment, Varsha produced her husband’s Army discharge book which clearly states he died in a road accident. This goes against Pardeshi’s claim that the recruiters were not aware of this fact.

Newslaundry contacted the office of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis about the promises of jobs and land to the war widows and to ask about Varsha’s case. The Chief Minister’s Office said: “The state government of Maharashtra is ahead in providing assistance to the family members of the martyrs from the defence forces who have laid their lives for the cause of the nation. A process is on to draft a policy to provide jobs to the widows of the martyrs as no such policy was in existence earlier … Accordingly, the formality will soon be completed to recruit widows of the Army and armed forces. As per the state decision, financial assistance of ₹8 lakh has already been given to the family members of the martyrs.”

The statement said: “In the case of Varsha Chowgule, widow of Army Sepoy Ashok Chowgule who was given the job of police constable at Satara, it is stated that a policy decision has to be taken. The state general administration department has been working on it.”

With respect to the promise to give Army widows two hectares of land, the CMO said: “…previously there was no provision to give such land to widows or survivors of the martyrs. Now, the state has decided to amend the rules to make available agriculture land to widows or survivors of martyrs from the Army and armed forces directly without charging any occupancy charges. The powers to allot such land have been vested with the district collector. As the decision has recently been taken the process of allotment is expected to be completed as soon as possible.”