Mangala Wagle, wife of sub-inspector Sarvottam Wagle, who shot down dacoit Sakharam Barbatte, hasn't received her pension since 2004; the British had awarded Wagle with the King's Police Medal
It is with a sense of immense pride that Mangala Wagle narrates the story of her husband, Sarvottam Narayan Wagle and how he shot down a dreaded dacoit in Satara before Independence.
Mangala Wagle says the money, although a pittance in today’s times, is symbolic of her late husband’s bravery
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With the same intensity of emotions, she narrates the apathy of government officials who have made her and her family run around for the monthly allowance that they are entitled to, since 2004. Sarvottam Wagle was a sub-inspector in service of the British government, and had shot dead Sakharam Barbatte, a dreaded bandit from the Satara region.
For his valour, Wagle had been awarded the King’s Gallantry Police medal, along with an allowance of Rs 60 per month. He quit the force in 1965 and dabbled in the fishing business, but failed. Wagle later turned scribe and reported crime stories for newspapers in then Bombay (see box).
Sheetal Jaywant found out about her father’s allowance only in 2013, nearly nine years after it had been stopped abruptly
The allowance continued to come to Wagle until he breathed his last on November 11, 1983, at his Shivaji Park residence. In 1988, Mangala shifted to Goa with her son and two daughters, and started a fish supply business, and also did some social work.
The allowance was sent until February 2004; it was suddenly stopped then. Unfortunately, during this very period, Mangala had fallen ill and could not follow up with the authorities, and, like most people, had to give up on the government, with her application having been lost in the black hole of government files.
Struggle for her right
Wagle’s son Surendra, the eldest child, had taken care to transfer all pension-related paperwork to Goa, but he later passed away at the age of 42 due to cardiac arrest. It was only in early 2013 that Mangala’s daughter, Sheela Jaywant (57), learnt of the award. “My mother was seriously ill in the ICU when I came across her pension book in her cupboard.
I followed up with the Department of Accounts in Panaji. Every fifteen days, I made a trip to their office until finally they sent a letter saying my mother’s original order papers were not traceable.
They also informed me that as the gap since the pension was last drawn was over three years, the sanctioning authority in Mumbai (the pension section in Pratishtha Bhavan, near Churchgate station) would have to issue a fresh letter for the same,” Jaywant said
Undeterred, Jaywant contacted her sister, Geeta Kapadia (64), in Mumbai. Kapadia has made several trips to the office, but the clerks there, in characteristic fashion, kept asking her to return in a few days. “First, they said it would take two days, then next week, then another week, and so on,” Jaywant said.
The 84-year-old widow’s health doesn’t allow her to run behind the authorities, who don’t seem bothered in any case. Jaywant says there seems to be confusion because the award is a ‘King’s Medal’ and not President’s Medal.
“I have heard of defence widows having problems in getting pension; it is now happening in my own house. My mother is being deprived for no fault of hers,” asserted Jaywant.
Fighting for pride
When we asked her why she was persisting in her efforts for R60, a fierce Mangala told mid-day over the phone, “The question is not about the worth of the money today, but the pride of our family that comes with it. It is recognition for my husband’s bravery; it is symbolic and priceless, and too precious for me.”
“My husband was an honest and upright officer. He was blunt and against the wrong practices within the police force then. Hence, he quit the force in the 1965 and refused to even take the family pension. I stood by his decision,” she added.
Though fragile, Mangala is still very active and is involved in running Hamara School, a home for underprivileged children under the Kasturba Gandhi National Memorial Trust. She is the trust’s representative in Goa.
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