Family members of Bijay Kumar Rai stage a dharna at Bihta on Saturday. (PTI)

Patna, Aug. 10: Martyr sepoy Bijay Kumar Rai’s family broke their 36-hour fast today after Major General V.S. Negi of Bihar Regimental Centre, Danapur, assured them of a job, education for his children and residential facilities.

Rai, of 21 Bihar Regiment, was one of the five soldiers killed on the India-Pakistan border on Monday night.

Negi talked to the family members of Rai over phone and assured the deceased’s wife, Pushpa Devi, of a job, the education of their two children at a military school besides providing residential facilities at Danapur.

“The family members and wife of martyr Bijay Kumar Rai broke their fast following assurances given by Major General V.S. Negi through his representative Colonel S.K. Mitra. The Colonel helped the family members talk over the phone with Negi,” said Danapur sub-divisional magistrate Avanish Kumar.

Avanish said Negi asked Rai’s wife to apply for a post and assured that the application would be considered according to her eligibility. Pushpa and three others of the family had sat on a fast from Friday morning outside their house at Anandpur Thekaha village near Bihta, about 30km west of Patna to government inaction after Rai’s death.

The family had said the fast would not end unless the chief of the army staff, General Bikram Singh, visits their house to assure that Rai’s martyrdom would not go in vain.

BJP national vice-president C.P. Thakur today demanded that the state government install life-size statues of the four soldiers in their respective district headquarters. Two jawans hailed from Saran, while two others belonged to Patna and Bhojpur.

The government should send a team to assess the infrastructure facilities at the martyrs’ villages,” Thakur said, adding: “If the state government fails to construct the roads of these villages, then I would construct the same from my MP local area development funds.”