Telangana Govt Appoints Galwan Valley Martyr Col Santosh Babu's Wife as Dy Collector, Provides House

The Telangana government on Wednesday handed over a letter of appointment as deputy collector and also a house site in the city to the wife of Colonel Santosh Babu, who was killed in recent violent clashes with Chinese troops in the Galwan Valley in Ladakh.

"The state government has appointed Ms Santoshi, wife of Col Santosh Babu who was martyred in the recent clashes on the Indo-China Border, as Deputy Collector. Honourable Chief Minister Sri K Chandrashekhar Rao on Wednesday at Pragathi Bhavan handed over the appointment letter to Ms Santoshi," an official release said.

Rao instructed the officials to post Santoshi in Hyderabad and its surrounding areas and also asked his secretary Smita Sabharwal to help Santoshi till she receives proper training and settles down in her job, it said.

Rao had lunch with 20 members of Santoshi's family at Pragati Bhavan, the camp office-cum-official residence of the chief minister. He assured them that the government would always stand by Babu's family.

Earlier, Hyderabad district Collector Sweta Mohanty and ruling TRS MLA Gadari Kishore Kumar handed over the documents pertaining to the allotment of 711 sq yards of land at posh Banjara Hills to Santoshi.

Santoshi thanked the chief minister and the district collector for the help. "In remembrance of the martyrdom of Col Santosh Babu, CM came to our house and helped...the Collector invited me today, showed the place (land in Hyderabad) to me and gave the related documents. I am thankful to the CM and Collector," Santoshi told reporters.

It was exactly a month ago (on June 22), when the chief minister visited the bereaved family at Suryapettown, about 130 km from here, and pledged his government's full support to the family.

During his visit, Rao had handed over cheques for Rs 5 crore announced as ex-gratia by him. He had also personally handed over a letter appointing Santoshi as a Group I service officer in the state government and documents allotting a house site of 711 sq yards at the Banjara Hills here.

The 39-year-old colonel was among 20 Indian soldiers who were killed in the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on June 15 during a violent clash with Chinese troops.