MP: Teacher pays tribute to martyr, gets his statue installed

A government school teacher in Betul district’s Pardha village, inspired by the life of CRPF commando Manoj Choure, has commissioned his statue, dipping into her own pockets for the cost of the construction.

Choure, a native of the district’s Parmandal village, was posted with CRPF’s elite CoBRA (Commando Battalion for Resolute Action) battalion. The 28-year-old was killed in a Maoist ambush in Bihar’s Gaya district in July.

In order to motivate her students to learn from Choure’s sacrifice, Vidhya Kethwas, the teacher, has installed his statue at the Pardha government girls’ hostel. “I was saving money for months to install this statue. Manoj was an inspiration and the children of our village should learn from his valour and determination,” Kethwas said.

She also invited Choure’s parents and surprised them with the statue.

“We had no clue that she would get a statue constructed. We were very depressed after his death but we felt really proud when we arrived here,” Choure’s father Ramdayal said.

“This is a moment of pride for our entire family… Today, when I see his statue, I feel like asking children of our village to follow his footsteps,” Choure’s mother Kamla Bai said.

However, Ramdayal expressed his disappointment over Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s unfulfilled promise — the chief minister, during a tour of Betul in July, had promised to install Choure’s statue at the district’s Multai block.