Narayanan presents gallantry awards

NEW DELHI, OCT 28: President K R Narayanan on Thursday presented seven Param Vishisht Seva medals PVSMS, four Kirti Chakras, two Vir Ch...

NEW DELHI, OCT 28: President K R Narayanan on Thursday presented seven Param Vishisht Seva medals PVSMS, four Kirti Chakras, two Vir Chakras and 34 Shaurya Chakras to armed forces personnel and civilians for their courage and gallantry in peace and war-time operations.

Among those awarded PVSMS at Darbar hall, Rashtrapati Bhavan here was Director General of Military Operations DGMO Lt Gen Nirmal Chandra Vij. The President also honoured ten senior defence officials with Ati Param Vishisht Seva medals AVSM for 8220;distinguished service of an exceptional order8221;, besides Uttam Yuddh Seva medal to Brig Jasbir singh Lidder of Infantry for distinguished service of an extraordinary order during hostilities.

Twenty of the 58 awardees were honoured posthumously. They included four civilians. The winners of Kirti Chakra, presented for 8220;conspicuous gallantry otherwise than in the face of the enemy,8221; included three posthumous awardees 8212; Maj Ashok Kumar Sahrawat of 19 Rashtriya Rifles, Naik Vishwa Kerketta 17Bihar and Sepoy Sanjeev Singh 18 dogra 8212; besides Capt Anil Kumar of 6 Dogra.

Those awarded Vir Chakra, the third highest war-time honour, were Maj Naveen and Havaldar Kashmir Singh Thakur, both belonging to 11 Jammu and Kashmir rifles, for displaying audacious fighting spirit and exemplary courage against Pakistani ultras in Uri sector at 13,000 feet high mountain top.

The President posthumously honoured Phulbati, a casual labourer of the Border Roads Organisation with Shaurya Chakra for her extra-ordinary courage and selfless devotion to save Government property from armed militants in Jammu and Kashmir. She was beheaded by ultras while giving a stiff resistance to save parts of a road roller from being taken away by anti-nationals8217;. Her husband Mani Ram, who was also injured in the attack, received the medal, given for gallantry.

In a moving gesture, Narayanan stepped down from the dais to pin the Shaurya Chakra on Capt Ganesh Singh Bhandari of Rajputana Rifles who was pushed in a wheel chair toreceive the award. Capt Bhandari was injured while leading a quick reaction team during several operations against insurgents in Nagaland in April, 1998.

Following is the list of awardees:

PVSMS 8211; Air Marshal S S Gupta, Air Marshal J S Rai, Air Marshal D S Basra, Lt Gen S R R Aiyengar, Lt Gen N C Vij, Lt Gen P S Joshi, and Vice Admiral A S R Krishnan.

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Kirti Chakras 8211; Maj A K Sahrawat, Naik V Kerketta, Sepoy Sanjeev Singh all posthumous and Capt Anil Kumar.

Uttam Yudh Seva Medal 8211; Brig J S Lidder.

AVSMS 8211; Rear Admiral Pravesh Jaitly, Rear Admiral Kattoju Mohanrao, Rear Admiral A K Singh, Rear Admiral J S Bedi, Air Vice Marshal M B Madon, Air Vice Marshal S S Dhillon, Air Commodore G S Chaudhary, Air Cmde M Sundaram, Air Commodore S K Bhan and Air Commodore B Banerjee.

Vir Chakras: Maj Naveen and Havildar Kashmir Singh Thakur of Jammu and Kashmir Rifles.

Shaurya Chakras: Capt B B Yadav, Lance Naik Ram Singh, Phulbati posthumous, Sepoy Suraj Prakash posthumous, Havildar Raghu Nath, Maj P KYadav, Maj M D Nair, Sepoy Raunaki Singh posthumous, Maj Ashish Bhatnagar posthumous, operator excavating machinery Gobind Singh posthumous, Sepoy Sukhbir Singh posthumous, 2nd Lt Sarsar Mukund, Naik Satpal Chand posthumous, Maj J S Shekhawat, Lance Naik Sawinder Singh posthumous, Naib Subedar B L Sharma posthumous, Rifleman A K Gurung, Maj K J Singh, Maj A S Chauhan, Sqn Ldr M S M Nasser, Naik Y S Reddy posthumous, Lance Naik J Singh posthumous, Supt J K Murthy, Rifleman Shyam Singh posthumous, Maj I Singh, Naik Ram Singh posthumous, Capt G S Bhandari, Maj N Sood, Havaldar G Singh, Asst Commandant V Singh, Rifleman A K Jena, Subedar Shiv Singh posthumous, driver Jabar Singh posthumous, pioneer Chunnu Tudu and Asst Commandant A K Rana posthumous.