New Delhi, August 12: A 15-year-old winner of President’s bravery award, who comes from a Below Poverty Line (BPL) family in Rajasthan, has been running from pillar to post for monetary assistance even after recommendations from both the Prime Minster’s Office and the President.
Taking into consideration the brave acts of Yogesh Kumar Jangid, a resident of Karauli district, the PMO wrote to the state Chief Secretary on April 16 this year to take an “appropriate action”.
After the President’s award last year, his merit was again appreciated by the first citizen of the country when his father was invited to the Rashtrapati Bhavan in January this year and a recommendation to help the family was subsequently sent to the state government.
“The district collector wrote in his letter to the state deputy secretary that though our financial condition is bad, but there are no funds available with him to help us,” Jangid’s father Prakash Chandra Sharma said, adding that “I have knocked several times on the doors of district and state government authorities but nothing happened.”
The District Collector in his letter of June 22 to the Deputy Secretary of the state had said that the condition of Jangid’s family was “pitiable” and that monetary assistance is “necessary”.
When contacted, Rajasthan Chief Secretary Kushal Singh said she would “enquire into the matter” for reasons of non-grant of required aid to Jangid and his family.
Jangid, who says he does not “fear dangers” had saved many lives and has been decorated with a host of awards, including Ghanshyam Binani children bravery award in 2005, and also received a host of citations from senior police officials praising his “bravery and intelligence in times of crisis”.
In 2003, when he was just nine-year-old, Jangid saved a young girl from a raging fire, for which he was awarded by the then Rajasthan Governor Madan Lal Khurana, who described his act as “brave and courageous”.
The lone son of a freelance writer, Jangid repeated his bravado in July 2004 when he saved a boy from drowning in a canal. In 2006, he saved his classmate Anita from a marauding Hyena when she went to collect woods from a nearby forest in Karauli district.
Last year on June 24 he again saved four children from drowning in Kalisil river in his district.
A student of class eleven, Jangid always secured first division marks all through his academic career. He wants to become a police officer and desires to avail the facilities of good teaching institutions.
“My family cannot afford my education in a good school. I have been a good student and I want to become a police officer. I am confident that if given a chance, I can do better,” Jangid, who won the President’s Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak, said.
-Agencies