JAMMU:A senior army officer from Badhori village of Samba district Lt-Col Ranveer Singh Jamwal, who has recently achieved the rare feat of becoming the first Indian Army officer from Jammu and Kashmir and the third soldier to climb Mount Everest for the third time in a row, Sunday accused the state government headed by Mehbooba Mufti of ignoring his achievement and giving ‘cold response’.
Similar sentiments were shared by battery of speakers who had gathered here today to felicitate ‘son of the soil’ for making them all proud with his long list of achievements.
Soon after landing here in Jammu Lt-Col Jamwal was escorted in the form of a rally by his well wishers and family friends and local villagers to his native village.
Enroute they attended a ceremony at Sunny farms where several prominent citizens representing various socio-political organised accused the state govt of ignoring the achievement of the decorated army officer because he hailed from Jammu region.
“Why no one from the state government cared enough to issue a statement or felicitate the army officer. In contrast even if a local student from Kashmir is selected in IAS exam chief minister, cabinet ministers all make a bee line and welcome him and issue statements asked several veteran soldiers and prominent citizens while hailing the rare achievement of Dogra officer from Badhori village of Samba.
PVC Bana Singh, Maj General (Retd) Goverdhan Singh Jamwal, Col JP Singh, Captain Inder Singh,Chairman Jammu Zorawar Singh Jamwal, representatives from several social groups comprising Amar Kshatriya Rajput Sabha, Jammu, Rajput Sabhas Jammu and Samba, Dogri Sanstha Jammu and Pahal, also echoed similar sentiments on the occasion.
During their address, the speakers while congratulating Lt Col Jamwal for his achievement said he had brought laurels to J&K and urged the government to name a stadium or a government building in his name to give him a real honour.
They, however, regretted that the state government has failed to give recognition to the son of soil for his “marvelous” and “rare” achievement.
In his thanks giving address at the end of the over two hour long function Lt Col Ranveer Singh Jamwal also pointed fingers towards the previous dispensation led by Omar Abdullah in the state Lt Col Jamwal claimed he had written a DO letter in 2013 to both the Governor and Chief Minister informing them about his feat after climbing the Mount Everest for the second time in a row.
Lt Col Jamwal claimed till date he never received any reply from both the offices of Governor and Chief Minister. Sharing another episode Lt Col Jamwal said he had even approached D S Rana, Advisor to Chief Minister at that time in 2013 but instead of acknowledging my achievement he too told me the state government has no funds. “When I told D S Rana I am not here to demand any money from you but to give you a presentation about scaling Mount Everest”, Lt Col Ranveer claimed. He went on to add even one of my juniors Rafiq Malik, whom I had recommended and had scaled the Mt Everest in 2013 was accorded red carpet welcome by the Chief Minister and Governor in 2013.
Lt Col Jamwal had first reached the scaled the world’s highest peak at 8,848 metres on May 25, 2012 and the second time on May 19, 2013.
Major Jamwal had joined Indian army on October 24, 1994 as Sepoy in Dogra Regiment (15 Dogra) but cleared the Officer Examination (Army Cadet College) and joined Indian Military Academy in 1998. He got commissioned into 11 JAT regiment in June 2002. Speaking on the occasion, Lt Col Jamwal expressed his gratitude to various social organisation for honouring him and shared his experiences with the audience.
Lt Col Jamwal has targeted to scale world’s seven summits. The seven tallest peaks in the seven continents include Mount Everest in Asia, Aconcagua in South America, Mount McKinley in North America, Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, Mount Elbrus in Europe, Mount Vinson in Antarctica and Mount Kosciuszko in Australia.
Apart from representatives of various social groups, Param Vir Chakra awardee Bana Singh, Cabinet Minister for Industries Chander Parkash Ganga, former minister Surjit Singh Slathia, Deputy Commissioner Samba, Sheetal Nanda, SSP Samba Joginder Singh and SP South Shahzad Salaria were also present on the occasion.