Hindustan Times (Lucknow)

Kirti Chakra, Shaurya Chakras for gallantry tales from Valley

One Kirti Chakra, 9 Shaurya Chakras announced for braveheart­s

- HT Correspond­ent letters@hindustant­imes.com ■

NEW DELHI: A Jammu & Kashmir Police constable, a Special Forces officer and an Indian Air Force pilot are among the 84 security personnel whose names have been approved for top gallantry awards by President Ram Nath Kovind on the eve of Independen­ce Day, according to a government release issued on Friday.

While head constable Abdul Rashid Kalas of J&K Police has been posthumous­ly awarded the

Kirti Chakra — India’s secondhigh­est peacetime gallantry award — for outstandin­g bravery, nine security personnel have earned the Shaurya Chakra, country’s third-highest peacetime gallantry award, for valour.

The other decoration­s awarded are five Bar to Sena Medals (Gallantry), 60 Sena Medals (Gallantry), four Nao Sena Medals (Gallantry) and five Vayu Sena Medals (Gallantry).

NEWDELHI: A Jammu and Kashmir police constable, a Special Forces officer and an Indian Air Force pilot are among the 84 security personnel whose names have been approved for top gallantry awards by President Ram Nath Kovind on the eve of Independen­ce Day, according to a government release issued on Friday.

While head constable Abdul Rashid Kalas of JKP has been posthumous­ly awarded the Kirti Chakra — India’s second-highest peacetime gallantry award — for outstandin­g bravery, nine security personnel have earned the Shaurya Chakra for valour. The latter is the country’s third-highest peacetime gallantry award.

The Shaurya Chakra awardees are Lieutenant Colonel Krishan Singh Rawat, Major Anil Urs, Havildar Alok Kumar Dubey, Wing Commandeer Vishak Nair, JKP DIG Amit Kumar, CISF subinspect­or Mahaveer Prasad Godara (posthumous), CISF head constable Eranna Nayaka (posthumous), CISF constable Mahendra Kumar Paswan (posthumous) and CISF constable Satish Prasad Kushwaha (posthumous).

The other decoration­s awarded are five Bar to Sena Medals (Gallantry), 60 Sena Medals (Gallantry), four Nao Sena Medals (Gallantry) and five Vayu Sena Medals (Gallantry).

Lieutenant Colonel Rawat, 1 Para (Special Forces), has been awarded the Shaurya Chakra for an operation near the LoC in J&K. Rawat and his team waited in ambush for 36 hours before they engaged a group of terrorist infiltrato­rs. Four terrorists were killed in the operation.

Major Urs also led an operation along the LoC in which five terrorist infiltrato­rs were killed. His citation says he displayed “raw courage, marksmansh­ip and combat leadership.” During a counterter­rorism operation in Kashmir, Havildar Dubey killed a Category A++ terrorist. “His courageous action...resulted in the eliminatio­n of all four terrorists,” his citation said.

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Indian Army’s women soldiers patrol at Sadhna Pass in Kupwara district on August 10.
PTI ■ Indian Army’s women soldiers patrol at Sadhna Pass in Kupwara district on August 10.

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