Author: Debajyoti Chakraborty
Publication:
Date: July 6, 2009
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/13-years-on-Purulia-heroes-given-Rs-10k/articleshow/4742284.cms
The two youth who had risked life and limb
to inform police on the night of the sensational Purulia armsdrop have been
handed Rs 10,000 cheques by the state government. Both of them have decided
to send back the petty acknowledgment, which came over 13 years after the
incident, in which several hundred AK-47 rifles and more than a million rounds
of ammunition were dropped from a Latvian plane in a field on the night of
December 17, 1995.
In the months that followed the armsdrop -
which spawned a thousand conspiracy theories - Subhas Tantubai and Tarit Bandopadhyay
were hailed, feted and honoured for their bravery. Atal Bihari Vajpayee, then
leader of the Opposition in Parliament, had pledged them jobs for their service
to the nation. The promise was never fulfiled.
Residents of Galudi and Khatanga villages
under Purulia's Jhalda police station, the two youth in their mid-20s were
at the local club when the aircraft dropped the sophisticated firearms. "It
was around midnight when we heard the plane's droning noise. Minutes later,
there was a crashing sound of something heavy dropping in a nearly field.
We went out in the chilly night and found a number of boxes scattered over
a wide area. We decided to get in touch with police immediately," said
Subhas.
Rushing through the foggy night on their bicycles,
the two of them informed Kotsila and Jhalda police stations. By the next morning,
news of the armsdrop reverberated through the power corridors of Delhi. In
the initial flurry, the two received a lot of attention. A few months later,
Vajpayee visited the area and promised them jobs. Buoyed by hope and a national
leader's assurance, Subhas and Tarit - both unemployed - started dreaming
of a better future.
But months turned to years and nothing happened,
even though Vajpayee soon took the prime minister's chair.
