MANDYA: Thousands of people landed at Mellahalli in Maddur taluk, Mandya district to bid a tearful farewell to martyred soldier H Guru late Saturday evening.As government land was not available in his village Gudigere for the last rites, the Mandya district administration following a request by Guru’s family members zeroed in on Mellahalli, 1.5km from his home town Gudigere. When the pyre was lit, there were chants of ‘Guru Amar Rahe’ at the state funeral.Chief minister HD Kumaraswamy, his cabinet colleagues, Union minister DV Sadananda Gowda, former CM SM Krishna, senior bureaucrats, police officers and thousands of mourners were present. His wife Kalavati, inconsolable since Thursday night after hearing of her husband's death, stood near his mortal remains and offered a salute before collapsing. After the state honours, the tricolour wrapped around Guru was handed over to a sobbing Kalavathi by a tearful CM who assured her all help. He also handed over a cheque for Rs 25 lakh to her and assured family members of jobs.The day started with tens of hundreds of villagers from across Mandya district rushing to Gudigere, a tiny village, to pay their last respect to the martyred solider. By 11am, over 5,000 people had gathered near the village entrance, waiting for the military vehicle ferrying his mortal remains from Bengaluru.Though the scheduled arrival at Gudigere was 3.30pm, it was delayed by over two hours. As per the original plan, the district administration planned to complete the last rites between 6pm and 6.30pm. But the mortal remains arrived late as thousands of people lined up by the road to Gudigere.The police had ensured zero traffic for the vehicle ferrying his body from Bengaluru. Thousands of people stood on both sides of the Bengaluru-Maddur highway and offered their respects. In Maddur town, many waited for over four hours. The mortal remains were kept near his residence for over half an hour to allow public. Police had a tough time controlling the surging crowd at Mellahalli.Actor-activist Prakash Raj visited Gudigere village and consoled family members. Later, he told reporters that everyone must join hands to support the families of soldiers. "Guru has made the supreme sacrifice for the country. We need to stand together in this hour of crisis," he said.CM abandon’s chopper planThe chief minister had planned to reach Gudigere by a helicopter and a temporary helipad was also prepared at Huligerepura near Gudigere. But when people berated him on social media for not providing a helicopter to transport the mortal remains of Guru from Bengaluru to Gudigere, Kumaraswamy reportedly dropped the plan of travelling by chopper. He reached the village by road.Gudigere residents slammed the state government for not providing a helicopter to ferry the body as early as possible.

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