Tezpur (Assam): Retired Lance Havaldar Dil Bahadur Chettri, a 4/5 Gorkha Rifles soldier of the elite Special Frontier Force of the Indian Army was known for his bravery and was always handpicked by his superiors for any kind of on-field actions.
Born on 21 August 1950 in Gharti Gaon in Matta Dang district of Nepal, Chettri enrolled into 4/5 Gorkha Rifles on 21 Aug 1968.
Chettri's major contribution was in the 1971 war against Pakistan where his Battalion was part of the advance towards Sylhet in erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) and was given the specific task of clearing a well-fortified Medium Machine Gun (MMG) enemy post at Atgram.
Rifleman Dil Bahadur Chhetri, with complete disregard to his personal safety, fought fearlessly, charged the bunker, killed eight enemy troops with his khukri and captured the MMG post.
For his conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty, he was awarded the Mahavir Chakra and promoted to Lance Havaldar.
However, Lance Havaldar Dil Bahadur Chhetri (MVc) had to quit the service voluntarily due to personal reasons even before reaching the requisite pensionable service.
Also read: Army helicopter makes emergency landing in Jodhpur
He was discharged from service on 8 April 1976 and since then has been living a very modest life in a small remote village of Banke district in Nepal.
Due to no or meagre income, his life after quitting services has been filled with misery. He only survived on his gallantry award allowance.
Being a soldier by nature, he agreed to fight it out the whole life and never approached anyone for help. But, his case recently came to notice when one senior officer of his unit informed Defence Wing about it.
A contact was established with him and a total amount of Rs 10 lakhs was approved as a welfare measure to alleviate hardships being faced by him in his old age.
During an ex-servicemen rally at Butwal, Nepal on 21 Nov 2019, he has felicitated with a cheque of Rs 5 lakhs as the first tranche.
The COAS, Gen MM Naravane, during his visit to Nepal, handed over the balance second tranche of Rs 5 lakhs to the gallant soldier on 06 Nov 2020.
