THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The absence of any officials representing the Kerala government while the body of Siachen avalanche victim Lance Naik B. Sudheesh of Kollam was brought to the Army area in Delhi on Monday has kicked up a row with charges of showing disrespect to the departed soul.
The officials of other states were present when the bodies of jawans were brought from Leh to Delhi.
However, it was clarified that the presence of state government officials during the transit of bodies was not needed as the state was formally receiving the jawan’s body in Thiruvananthapuram. “This was the case on earlier occasions also, ” the liaison officer of Kerala House in Delhi told DC.
Sudheesh’s body was scheduled to be brought by a special flight late on Monday night to Thiruvananthapuram airport where Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and officials would receive the body. It will be kept at the Pangode military camp and taken to his native place at Mandrothuruthu in Kollam on Tuesday morning.
The funeral will be held at his house by 1 p.m. with state honours after facilitating the public to pay homage to the departed jawan at Kallada CVKM higher secondary school and Mandrothuruthu government LPS.
The bodies of the other victims from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were taken to the respective states in special flights.
