JOIN USA war veteran fights his last battle
Eighty-nine-year-old Mukherjee, who has served the Indian Air Force for 37 years, was in 1975 allotted a 30 by 40 site at Nellurahalli, near Whitefield, by the State government in recognition of his service.
Murkherjee’s son Amarnath Mukherjee said, “Subsequently, the land document was taken by the government for verification.”
After several years of “fighting” the family got the document back in 1990. The family fenced the site (No 582 in survey number 89 and 90), near the Tesco office at Whitefield.
“After a few months, our fence was removed and some activity had begun there,” Amarnath said.
The ex-serviceman, despite his ill health after suffering a stroke in 2007, met the then chief minister (H D Kumaraswamy) at a “Janata Darshan” programme on March 1, 2008, and pleaded his case in vain.
Several visits to the tahsildar’s office and other departments concerned also proved futile and almost a decade-and-a-half later, on August 2008, Mukherjee received a letter from the Bangalore City Corporation (Letter no: DA/PR/KTRMADA/PGC/CR11/08-09) stating that the land was “not available”.
Mukherjee took up the matter with the deputy commissioner (DC) seeking an alternative site. The officer directed Mukherjee to the special deputy commissioner, stating that “only the special DC can allot an alternative site.”
By then, Mukherjee had suffered a stroke and had become frail. However, the war veteran wrote to the special DC seeking an alternative site. But his plea fell on deaf ears. As a desperate measure, Mukherjee and his family wrote to Jagadish Shettar, then revenue minister, Rameshwar Thakur, then governor, and the special officer to the chief minister.
Despite directions from the governor’s secretariat and Shettar, no site was allotted to Mukherjee.
“We tried everything we could. In 2009, my father suffered another stroke and has been almost bed-ridden since then,” Mukherjee’s son said.
“I even wrote to K R Puram MLA Nandish Reddy and tried to meet him,” Nishant, Mukherjee’s grandson, said.
“Finally,” Amarnath said, “one of our close friends suggested that we meet the special DC personally and explain the matter.” Heeding this advice proved to be humiliating for Amarnath. On visiting his G S Naik’s (Special DC) office on May 25, 2011, the officer spoke ill of Amulya Mukherjee.
“What is the use of allotting a site to your father when he is not capable of protecting his own site. What is the use of stating that your father has fought many wars. Do you expect me to post a watchman to guard your father’s site. I cannot do anything, you can go,” Naik reportedly said.
Amarnath said he will take up the matter with Governor H R Bhardwaj. “We will write to the governor, seeking an alternative site. We will also complain about the officer’s ‘abusive’ language,” he said.
Speaking to Deccan Herald, G S Naik said he could not recall any particular meeting with the Mukherjees. But Naik said he “will look into the matter.”
Amarnath said: “In the letter to the governor, we will ask him to examine the CCTV recordings of Naik’s office between 5:30 pm and 6 pm and confirm the incident. My father is not used to defeats. We do not want him to lose this battle,” he said.