Jammu, Aug 19: It was sunny morning of February 23, 2003, Subash Chander, who along with more than one dozen labourers, all hailing from village Abdullian of RS Pura sector, were heading towards International Border (IB) with a group of paramilitary BSF men of 60th battalion, to erect barbed wire along the fence, knowing little about the terrible incident that crippled him for life time with no one around to help him.
 When the laborers were crossing a culvert Subash Chander stepped on a landmine hidden beneath exploded throwing him several feet away from the spot.
 That bright morning changed into a nightmare for the labourers who ran in panic towards the fields to save their life assuming that Pakistani rangers had started shelling on Indian locations.
 But minutes after when they realized their mistake, they ran towards Subhash only to find him in a critical condition with left limb blown in the explosion.
 “My leg was profusely bleeding as I have lost my foot. BSF men shifted me to Bakshi Nagar Hospital and after 3 months of treatment I was discharged from the hospital but with amputated left limb” disappointed, Subash Chander said.
 “My family took a loan of more than Rs 50,000 for my  treatment as the BSF authorities gave me only the daily wages of that fateful day which brought despair and disappointment in my life and not a single penny more than that.” he said, adding that BSF authorities had assured to provide job to his son but all assurances proved hollow.
 Being a marginal farmer who was totally dependent on daily wages for earning livelihood to feed his   family was left handicapped by that mine explosion and also shattered all his   dreams to educate his son and enable him to get some good government employment.
 He regretted that his 14 year old son, who   wanted to be a government employee, left his studies and   started  to do  menial works to feed the family.
 “My own and my son’s desire to improve the financial condition of the family were ruined by that explosion. Neither BSF nor local administration or the MLA   extended any type of help to my family during past 11 years, except oral assurances” Chander alleged.
 Disheartened by the conduct of BSF authorities, he has also knocked the door of court to seek justice. “It is very difficult for me to pay lawyers, but in hope of getting justice I am pursuing the case and court is my last hope” he said.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 19 Aug 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 19 Aug 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 20 Aug 2012 00:00:00 IST