Honouring the Braveheart Colonel Santosh Babu who was martyred in the June 15 Galwan clash, a bust of his has been installed in his hometown in Telangana’s Suryapet on Friday. The two-and-a-half feet bust was ordered by the Colonel’s friends from sculptors in West Godavari district in the neighbouring state of Andhra Pradesh. A month later, a bronze statue will also be installed and a crossroads in Suryapet is likely to be renamed as Colonel Santosh Marg.
Earlier on June 20, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 crore for his family. KCR had also announced that his government will offer Rs 10 lakh solatium each to the families of 19 other Army personnel who were martyred alongside Colonel Babu. The amount will be handed over to the Defence Ministry. “The state government will give Rs 5 crore cash to the family, besides a residential plot, and Group-1 job to his wife. The chief minister also announced that he himself would personally go to the Santosh Kumar’s house and hand over the help,” stated a release from the Telangana government.
