Armed Forces Veterans’ Day celebrated at Raj Bhawan

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JAMMU: On the occasion of Armed Forces Veterans’ Day, Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha paid tributes to the brave martyrs and interacted with Veterans, Veer Naris and Next of Kins of the bravehearts of Armed Forces, at Raj Bhawan today.

“The nation will forever remain indebted to our soldiers, who are safeguarding the unity, integrity and sovereignty of the country. Welfare of the ex-servicemen is top priority of the administration,” the Lt Governor said.

J&K has witnessed drastic improvements in the last four years, for which you all have worked throughout the life.  Today, Jammu Kashmir is marching ahead on the path of growth and prosperity. After Independence, J&K has seen the highest footfall of tourists, he said.

Police, Army, CAPFs are working in coordination to defeat the nefarious attempts of the neighboring country to disrupt peace in Jammu Kashmir. Terrorism is breathing its last breath. I am confident that our ex-servicemen will continue to make their important contribution in the fight against terrorism, the Lt Governor said.

He appealed to all citizens to generously contribute towards the welfare of ex-Servicemen and Veer Naris. It is our collective responsibility and our foremost duty to ensure that our veterans and the families of our martyrs live a life of dignity, he said.

He assured every support from the administration in terms of availability of land for Sainik Colonies in both regions of Kashmir and Jammu. We are also determined to increase the ex-gratia as a mark of respect to our Army bravehearts, he added.

The Lt Governor also honoured the Veer Naris on the occasion.

Lt Gen RK Sharma (Retd.); Dr Mandeep Kumar Bhandari, Principal Secretary to Lt Governor; Brig. Gurmeet Singh Shan (Retd.), Director Sainik Welfare Department, J&K; Brig. Anil Gupta (Retd.) and officials of Sainik Welfare Department J&K were also present.