On the eve of the 65th Republic Day celebrations, the Centre on Saturday announced Kirti Chakra, second highest peacetime gallantry award, for three personnel of the Armed forces for their acts of bravery on the line of Control (loC), anti-Naxal operation relief operation in flood-hit Uttarakhand. There is no Ashok Chakra awardee this time.
The three are among 368 gallantry award winners this year including 10 Shaurya Chakra awardees.
ARMED FORCES
N Sub Bhupal Singh Chhantel Magar of Gorkha Rifles has been awarded the Kirti Chakra for killing two terrorists while foiling an infiltration bid along the loC in Kupwara.
IAF officer Wing Commander Darryll Castelino has been conferred the award for saving passengers and Central armed forces personnel on June 23 last year before his Mi-17V5 chopper crashed killing all 20 personnel on board.
Constable Bhrigu Nandan Choudhary of CRPF’s 205 Cobra Battalion is also given the award posthumously for his role in foiling a Naxal attack in Bihar where he prevented the left wing extremists from snatching the weapons of his colleagues in the patrolling party.
Choudhary along with his team of CoBRA had a fierce gun battle with the Naxals but got injured in an IED blast. Undeterred this braveheart exhorted his team to fight fearlessly, crawled under extreme pain, took position near a pit and neutralized six Naxals and injured many others before achieving martyrdom.
Magar, a resident of Rupendehi district of Nepal, has been awarded the Kirti Chakra for displaying exceptional bravery and leadership beyond the call of duty, in counter infiltration operations along the loC.
On August 31 last year, Magar spotted movement of six heavily armed terrorists and immediately side-stepped his position in rugged and boulders-ridden terrain and closed in towards the terrorists, despite being under fire.
“The gallant soldier displaying nerves of steel, fired a long burst, killing one terrorist. Displaying raw courage, he pursued the second terrorist and injured him. While the injured terrorist was hiding behind a boulder, the Gurkha soldier unmindful of his personal safety, charged towards the terrorist and killed him,” his citation reads.
lt Col Bikramjit Singh of 16th light Cavalry, who was killed in a suicide attack by terrorists on his unit in Samba in Jammu and Kashmir on September 26 last year, was given Shaurya Chakra.
Captain Mahabir Singh of the 9 (Special Forces) unit, who eliminated three terrorists during the Samba attack, has also been awarded the Shaurya Chakra. More than 20 officers of the Indian Air Force have been awarded the Vayu Sena Medal for gallantry for performing humanitarian relief operations in the flood-hit Uttarakhand.
CPOs
CRPF bagged the highest number of gallantry awards amongst all the Central Police Organisations on the eve of Republic Day, including one Kirti Chakra, two PPMG (both posthumously) and 13 PMG (including five posthumously).
Thirty-three CISF personnel have been awarded with President’s Police medals on the eve of the occasion.
Those awarded include Inspector General and Principal of the forces’ academy in Hyderabad Anil Kumar (distinguished service), Deputy Inspector General of the Government building security unit in Delhi Suresh Kumar KC and DIG Hardeep Singh posted at the force headquarters here.
