Sculptors of West Godavari district are busy carving the bust of martyr B. Santosh Babu, who sacrificed his life for the country. He was a native of Suryapet in Telangana State.
Colonel Santosh was one among the 20 Indian soldiers, who died in the clashes with Chinese troops in the Galwan area at Ladakh on June 15.
The martyr, Santosh, completed his schooling in a Sainik school, in Vizianagaram. Later, he joined the premier National Defence Academy (NDA) in Pune and the Indian Military Academy (IMA) in Dehradun.
Santosh was commissioned into the 16th Bihar regiment in 2004 and was posted in Jammu for the first time. Later, he had served in the borders at various locations and laid down his life for the country in the violent clashes with China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in the Galwan Valley.
Other slain soldiers
The 19 other soldiers were from Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh and other States.
Friends and well-wishers of Col. Santosh planned to erect the bust of the martyr and gave order to the sculptors, who were famous for making statues, in West Godavari district.
“We carved the statues of many leaders. Statues of Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Bhagat Singh, Alluri Seetharama Raju, Sir Arthur Cotton, Indira Gandhi, Nandamuri Taraka Rama Rao, Y.S. Rajshekara Reddy and many other personalities took shape in our hands,” said a sculptor staying near Tadepalligudem.
“The bust of Indian soldier and martyr Santosh Babu will be erected at a centre in Suryapet after taking permission from the authorities concerned,” said a person of Telangana.
