Blogger Tips and TricksLatest Tips And TricksBlogger Tricks

Pages

13 Sept 2012

Freedom fighter who drove Netaji’s car dies

Darjeeling, Sept. 12: Krishna Bahadur Mukhia, who once drove Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose’s car during his INA days, died in Darjeeling on the night of September 11.

One of the last freedom fighters in the hills, Krishna Bahahur was 91. He died in his residence in Rockville Dham and is survived by three sons and two daughters.

Suresh Mukhia, one of his sons, said: “My father was down with fever for a couple of days. He had also caught a cold and breathed his last around 8.30pm last night.”

Krishna Bahadur was born on May 12, 1921, at Glenburn Tea Estate.

He joined the British Army in 1942 as a mechanic. But on February 15, 1942, he was taken a prisoner of war by the invading Japanese forces and sentenced to jail in Japan.

When Subash Chandra Bose founded the Indian National Army, Krishna Bahadur was released by the Japanese and he joined Bose’s struggle for Indian Independence.

In 1943-44, he was Netaji’s driver, the job given to him perhaps because he was a mechanic.

“In 1944, while fighting against the British, my father was again captured near the Indo-Burma border and taken to Delhi. Even though he was released, he was not given post-retirement benefits by the British,” Suresh said.

After his return to his native place, he worked as a driver in various tea gardens and was later appointed as a driver by the District School Board. “He retired in 1986,” Suresh said.

On August 15, 1972, the Indian government conferred on him a tamra patra (a copper plate) for his involvement in the freedom struggle.

This year on Independence Day, Krishna Bahadur was invited as a special guest and the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha handed him a token amount of Rs 1 lakh.

The funeral will be held on Friday.

Krishna Bahadur’s two other sons are Kamal and Pawan and two daughters are Mira and Kalpana, both married.

Suresh works as an office superintendent in the office of the district inspector of schools, Kamal and Pawan are drivers with the state government. Suresh said his father used to receive a sum of Rs 3,040 as monthly pension from the district school board and Rs 6,050 from the Centre as freedom fighter’s pension.

Related Posts:

  • Arrest fury leads to hill boycott RAJEEV RAVIDAS Darjeeling, Jan. 23: Most of the GTA Sabha members who had been jailed in the wake of the latest round of statehood movement and released on bail stayed away from all three events attended by Mamata Ban… Read More
  • Golay accuses SDF , Challenges Chamling for public debate Gangtok 14 Jan 2014 Sikkim Krantikari Morcha president PS Golay on Monday accused the SDF led state government for desperately trying to win back people’s trust by making false promises. He said the state government h… Read More
  • Sikkim CM inaugurates Jorethang Maghey Mela 2014 JORETHANG 14 Jan 2014 Chief Minister Pawan Chamling inaugurated the ‘Jorethang Maghey Mela 2014’ here today. He also inaugurated several other stalls installed by different departments and the Saras Mela. The open… Read More
  • Cut in GTA members’ salary to pay elderly VIVEK CHHETRI Rangbhang, Jan. 14: Bimal Gurung has decided to deduct the salaries of GTA Sabha members to pay old-age pension to 900 senior citizens in the hills. The GTA had decided to pay the pension and had even p… Read More
  • SDF leader injured in clash with SKM Gangtok 23 Jan 2014 A clash between the Sikkim Democratic Front and Sikkim Krantikari Morcha on Wednesday evening has left SDF Organisation Secretary Avinash Yakha injured. The clash reportedly took place when Yakha w… Read More

0 comments: