Alappuzha: S. Suresh Kumar, a retired havildar of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), the only Keralite to scale Mt Everest twice, is still waiting for the Government’s call to receive his Rs 4 lakh reward.
He recently found some relief thanks to the last Mass Contact Programme (MCP-2012) of the Chief Minister which gave him Rs 1 lakh out of the promised Rs 5 lakh reward which was declared by the E.K. Nayanar Government in 1997.
But Kumar is still battling for the rest. “I am extremely happy I got at least Rs 1 lakh. But, it’s my humble request that the rest be settled soon”, he said. The sanctioned Rs 1 lakh was given by the Sports Council on April 10. I hope the Chief Minister will set aside the rest in this year’s MCP”, he said.
E.K. Nayanar had declared the reward after the ITBP sent a directive to the respective states, citing that all the mountaineers deserved to be honored for successfully completing their expedition. As result, the then chief minister had announced the award.
But the issue lies with the State Youth Welfare Board, which has no provision to sanction Rs 5 lakh as reward, he says.
His first expedition to the Everest was in 1992 when he was part of an international team. “We took the South Col route, on the Nepal side. The second time, in 1996, we selected the North Col route, on the China side,” said Kumar, who now works as a home guard in Alappuzha town.
Kumar joined the ITBP in 1987. His first tryst with the snowy mountains was in 1991 when he climbed Kanchenjunga. Kumar, whose documentaries on the expedition were aired by Doordarshan twice, still hopes that his files will finally see the light of day.
