Pune: Palak Kumar , the daughter of Subedar Rakesh, who died on October 14, 2020 while undertaking intelligence duty at Chushul in Ladakh, felt proud and emotional on seeing a bust of her father at Satark Park. The park, situated outside the Military Intelligence Training School and Depot ( MITSD ) in Pune, was inaugurated on Saturday. It is the country's first memorial dedicated to Military Intelligence (MI) personnel who laid down their lives in the line of duty.
Palak is a first-year MBBS student at Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College and Hospital in Kangra, Himachal Pradesh. "It was my father's dream to see me as a doctor. He would have been happy and proud of me today.
Unfortunately, he is not with us," an emotional Palak told TOI. Palak was accompanied by her mother, Suman, who works with an insurance firm. "My daughter has fulfilled his dream.
He would have been on cloud nine had he seen her achievements," Suman said standing in front of the bust of her husband. "This is my first trip to Pune. I could not muster the courage when I was invited the last time.
But today it was a special occasion for us. So, I came with my daughter to pay tribute to him," she said. Family members of 40 MI personnel who sacrificed their lives in action since 1960 attended the event.
They reminisced about fond memories and the military traits they followed in their lives on and off duty. War widow Sunita Mehta, wife of Brigadier Ravi Datt Mehta, a Kirti Chakra awardee, said, "This .