Residents take out peaceful march for martyrs

About a 1,000 residents holding candles, dressed in black, illuminated the dusk in the roads of Whitefield on Sunday.

As a tribute to the martyred troops in the recent Pulwama terror attack, the residents welfare association members of Whitefield, Kadugodi, Doddanekkundi and other wards in Mahadevapura conducted a 5 km peaceful candle march.

The march started from Kadugodi bridge and ended at Sandeep Vihar, an army apartment in Whitefield.

According to the organisers, residents from around 45 apartments in Mahadevapura participated in the march, including those from individual houses and PGs gathering more than 1,000 people from various points.

“There were two meeting points for residents. One at Seegehalli government school for those coming from Whitefield, Kadugodi and Belthur. Another near the Alliance Group at Whitefield-Hosakote Road for those coming from Hosakote, Budigere and Kannamangala,” said one of the organisers. The march did not disrupt the traffic as the participants formed a single line. “We had instructed the participants to use the footpaths for the march. Also, we had asked everyone to use either carpools or bicycles to reach the starting point, not their personal vehicles,” said Sampath Ramanujam, general secretary, federation of apartments in Mahadevapura, (ForceGW), one of the coordinators and participant.

Meanwhile, over 100 resident welfare associations of Bellandur sought another way of expressing their gratitude to the jawans who lost their lives. They wrote a letter to the Ministry of Defence (MoD) seeking ‘holistic action on the Pulwama terror attack’.

“Work on a framework for defence purchases until we are self-reliant. Every defence deal runs into decades of RFPs (Request for Proposal), evaluation, followed by a scandal or corruption allegations. It has the biggest impact on the morale and lives of armed forces,” the letter said. It is sent to MLA Arvind Limbavali’s office which is to be forwarded to the MoD later.