Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Feb 7: Young volunteers from Jammu province who were enrolled by the Army as porters in various Companies/ Army units during the Kargil War in 1999 to provide help for carrying their war stores and other goods to high mountains and peaks have demanded justice from the Government.
A large number of former porters assembled at Press Club here and lodged protest demanding justice for them from the Central and the State Governments. They came together after a Division Bench of Supreme Court headed by former Justice TS Thakur, gave a ruling on January 3, 2017 in favour of some Kargil War porters who had filed petition before the Apex Court directing Govt to provide them emoluments and other facilities and consider them for some pensionary benefits.
More than 200 such porters from Poonch, Rajouri, Reasi and Kathua, got together in presence of K P Singh, who helped them in getting enrolled in the Porter Companies under the banner of ‘Tanda Tigers Force’. They deliberated upon various options available to them to seek the same benefits which the Supreme Court has granted to the others.
Many of them shown the copies of the court ruling. Some of them had copies of J&K High Court ruling in respect of 29 such other porters who had sought relief from the High Court besides various media reports published in New Delhi after the above judgment. It was decided to file a case in the State High Court .
These aggrieved porters have appealed to the Army authorities of the Northern Command and local commanders to prefer them for the current porter jobs in their sectors for their dedicated services during ‘Op Vijay’.
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