Kerala: IAF chopper crash braveheart’s wife joins govt service

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 7:  Sreelekshmi, the wife of Junior Warrant Officer A. Pradip — one of the victims of the December 8, 2021 IAF helicopter crash that also killed India’s first Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat and other defence officials, on Monday joined her duties as a Clerk at Taluk office in Kerala’s Trissur, Revenue Minister K Rajan said.

After the accident, during a cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on December 15, it was decided to give Sreelekshmi a government job according to her qualifications.

Rajan who arrived at the Taluk office, received Sreelekshmi who had come with her two young children to take up the job of a clerk.

After signing the papers, with tears rolling down her cheeks, she said: “I am thankful to all who made this possible.”

Sreelekshmi had done post-graduation in Commerce.

“The state government has kept the promise and she has been given the job,” Rajan said.

Apart from the job, the state government gave her Rs 5 lakh, and another Rs 3 lakh to Pradip’s ailing father for his medical treatment.

The 38-year-old Pradip’s father was a casual labourer and after he joined IAF in 2002, his father stopped going for work.