Ranchi, Jan. 9: A 44-year-long wait will come to an end tomorrow when Balamdina Ekka, widow of Jharkhand's only Param Vir Chakra martyr Lance Naik Albert Ekka, visits his samadhi sthal in Tripura.
Balamdina, in her 70s, left for Tripura's capital Agartala today along with an eight-member team, led by state Tribal Advisory Council's (TAC) Ratan Tirkey, in an afternoon flight. They will change flights in Calcutta and are expected to reach the north-east state late in the evening.
Among those who accompanied the woman were her son Vincent Ekka, two junior army officers, a policeman and deputy secretary of state cabinet secretariat and coordination department George Kumar.
Before boarding the Indigo flight from Ranchi, Balamdina could barely speak because of her poor command over Hindi, but her moist eyes conveyed the satisfaction and relief she had for being finally able to visit her husband's samadhi and collect soil from there as his symbolic mortal remains after more than 44 years of his death.
TAC member Tirkey said visiting the martyr's grave in the distant north-east state and personally collecting his mortal remains was her long-cherished dream. Albert Ekka had died during the 1971 Bangladesh War of Liberation.
"For her, it's a historic day. We are thankful that this government has at least honoured her wish," he said.
He added they would return on January 16 with soil from Albert Ekka's final resting place with full military honours. "Orders for this have been issued by the defence ministry," he said.
The martyr's samadhi sthal is located at Sripally in West Tripura district. Over the years, the place has, however, witnessed a lot of encroachments and civil constructions.
Tirkey said they had spoken to the local government, which had assured them of full cooperation.
"As a matter of fact, hardly anything will be there as the brave soldier was cremated over 44 years ago. So if you see in that context, he is present in the soil of the entire region. But the reason we are taking Balamdina and her son there is to at least show them his final resting place. We will leave her alone for around an hour so that she can light a candle and spend some time there. It's going to be an emotional time for the family," he said.
They will also meet the Tripura governor and other state dignitaries tomorrow.
Earlier on December 3, 2015, Balamdina and Vincent had politely rebuffed chief minister Raghubar Das, who had come to their home in Gumla's Jari village to present a brass urn containing soil from the grave of the Param Vir Chakra on his 44th death anniversary.
As Vincent and Balamdina didn't accept the urn, Das declared they would be a part of a team that would go to Agartala on state expenses.
