Forces to honour Covid warriors today
NEW DELHI: Fighter jets will perform a fly-past over Rajpath and fly over Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) and helicopters will shower petals over several hospitals in the Capital on Sunday morning as part of an elaborate military plan to show gratitude to the country’s Covid-19 warriors, an Indian Air Force (IAF) spokesperson said on Saturday.
The plan, announced by chief of defence staff, General Bipin Rawat, on Friday, involves several activities, such as illuminating warships and band performances outside Covid-19 hospitals across the country. The fighter jets featuring in the fly-past, or what the IAF is calling an “aerial A FLY-PAST IS PLANNED BETWEEN 10AM AND 10.30AM. THE AIRCRAFT WILL BE FLYING AT A HEIGHT OF 500 TO 1,000M salute,” over Delhi-NCR, will be the Sukhoi-30s, MiG-29s and Jaguars. The fly-past is planned between 10 and 10.30 am. The aircraft will be flying at a height of 500 to 1,000 metre and will be visible to Delhi residents from their rooftops, the spokesperson said.
The fly-past by the fighter jets will be followed by the C-130J special operations aircraft flying over Delhi-NCR in formation.
The IAF spokesperson said helicopters will shower petals over the National Police Memorial and Delhi hospitals. These include Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital, GTB Hospital, Ram Manohar Lohia Hospital, Safdarjung Hospital, Sri Ganga Ram Hospital, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital, Apollo Indraprastha Hospital and the Army Hospital (Research and Referral).
The IAF also plans to shower petals over two hospitals in Kolkata -- ID&BG hospital and the Eastern Command Hospital-- on Sunday IAF sources said.
Wreaths will be laid at the police memorial on behalf of the three service chiefs.
The Navy will illuminate its warships at anchorage from 7.30 pm to midnight at Mumbai, Porbandar, Karwar, Vizag, Chennai, Kochi and Port Blair, a navy spokesperson said. He added that naval helicopters will shower petals over Covid-19 hospitals in Mumbai and Goa.
Also, 46 Indian Coast Guard ships will be lit up at 25 locations along the country’s eastern and western seaboards, the defence ministry said. Ten coast guard helicopters will shower flower petals over Covid-19 hospitals in Daman, Mumbai, Goa, Chennai and Port Blair.
The tributes being offered to Covid-19 warriors will see army bands perform outside several hospitals and locations across the country, including the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, the Sri Ganga Ram Hospital, the Army’s RR Hospital and the Base Hospital in Delhi Cantt, an army spokesperson said. Dal Lake in Srinagar is among the locations where army bands will perform to honour Covid-19 warriors.