Rich tributes were paid at the memorial of freedom fighter and social activist Sridev Suman on his 70th death anniversary by school children, villagers and police jawans from Chamba on Friday. However, the locals were disappointed to see weeds growing around the memorial displaying the neglect shown by administration towards the leader who sacrificed his life for the common people.
The Chamba police personnel reached the memorial at Jaul village, washed the statue and removed the weeds before planted about a dozen samplings in the area in Suman's memory.
Children recited poems and prose in his memory on the occasion.The speakers gathered on the occasion highlighted the works done by Suman who was born on May 25, 1916, in Jaul village of Bamund Patti in Tehri Garhwal. They said that Suman impressed with Gandhi's struggle based on non-violence, had tried to inculcate feelings of nationalism and patriotism in the people of the mountains.
He undertook a record 85-day hunger strike against the tyranny of the then royal family of Tehri and later died in 1944 in the Chamba prison. Chamba police SO KC Bhatt,Vijay Jadhdari, Satyanand Bijwalwan and others were present on the occasion.