Haryana seeks war weapons for museum
By IANSFriday, February 18, 2011
CHANDIGARH - Haryana Finance Minister Ajay Singh Yadav has urged Defence Minister A.K. Antony to allow the armed forces to donate their old and non-functional weapons for the newly constructed Rezangla War Museum and Memorial at Rewari in Haryana.
Yadav has made the request in his letter to the defence minister referring to the Chinese aggression in 1962, when a grave battle was fought at Rezangla Ridge, at a height of 16,000 feet in Ladakh region, a government spokesman said here Friday.
In the fierce battle, 114 soldiers of the Ahir Rifle Company of 13 Kumaon Regiment, most of them from Rewari, Mahendergarh and Gurgaon districts of Haryana, fought the enemy till their last bullets.
Yadav said the brave Indian soldiers killed about 1,300 Chinese soldiers in the battle.
“The soldiers made supreme sacrifices while exhibiting indomitable courage and bravery Nov 18, 1962,” Yadav stated in the letter.
The Rezangla Museum, Haryanas first war museum, was inaugurated Nov 18, 2010, at Rewari.
Yadav requested the defence minister to instruct the army, navy and air force to donate old and non-functional weapons for display at this museum.
He also asked for the inclusion of Vijayanta tanks, artillery guns, aeroplanes and boats in the list.
Haryana has thousands of ex-servicemen and Rewari district alone is home to more than 31,000 ex-servicemen and over 140,00 dependants.
