Atul Haldar at his Nadia home on Thursday. Telegraph picture

Majdia (Nadia), July 29: Atul Haldar had risked his life to save 150 Indian soldiers from being swallowed by the turbulent Ichhamati during the 1965 Pakistan war. Forty-five years on, the ailing and frail war hero is battling to save his own life: he has no money to pay his medical bills.

Haldar, 80, whose bravery had earned him a Shaurya Chakra, has written to the President, Prime Minister and the chief minister, requesting them to increase his monthly pension of Rs 1,500. A debilitating cerebral attack last year has confined him to bed. Haldar, a resident of Nadia’s Majdia, wants his pension increased so that he can meet his medical expenses.

Haldar had to be hospitalised for a week after the cerebral attack. “I paid my medical bills with the Rs 6,000 I had saved over the years. Now, I have only my pension to depend on,” he said.

Haldar said he needed regular physiotherapy as his arms had been partially paralysed after the cerebral attack. “The physiotherapist charges Rs 100 a day. I could not have continued with the treatment had my fellow villagers not helped me with money.”

“I can’t afford two meals a day for me and my wife. I have no one to turn to but the government,” the war hero said.

Haldar said his four sons had deserted him. “They do not look after me. I requested the government to increase my pension and fund my medical expenditure,” Haldar said, lying in a bed in his mud-walled house.

Haldar’s neighbours said the government should look after him. “He is a war hero. Why should such a man suffer like this? ” said Swapan Bhowmik, a neighbour.

On September 18, 1965, Haldar and his father were preparing to cast their fish net when they saw a vessel capsize. The river was over 20ft deep and the jawans were screaming for help. Haldar jumped into the river and his father cast his net. Together, they pulled 150 jawans to the bank.

Haldar was awarded the Shaurya Chakra and a monthly pension of Rs 15. The pension went up to Rs 100 over the years. However, The Telegraph had reported how even that paltry pension was stopped in 2007 because of a central rule that made it mandatory for him to have a bank account in order to get the pension. Haldar could not afford the Rs 500 needed to open an account.

He was turned away from the block development officer’s office where he had gone to get a “life certificate” that was a must for him to get the war hero’s pension. Jolted by this newspaper’s report on Haldar’s travails, the district administration had increased his pension to Rs 1,500 a month.