Deputy commandant Bhagwati Prasad Bhatt, the pilot of the BSF plane that crashed near Delhi airport on Tuesday killing all 10 people on board, was cremated at Kharkhari cremation ground in Haridwar on Wednesday.
Draped in tricolor, his body was brought to Kharkhari and at 4.45 pm right before the sunset, the body was consigned to the flames by his nephew Abhishek. The band played the funeral music, bringing tears to the eyes of all present there.
It was a gathering of high officials, commandants, jawans, friends and relatives at Kharkhari and everyone’s eyes were moist with the memories of the 38- year- old daring, pilot weighing heavily on their sorrow-sodden minds.
Several public representatives and government officers also reached Jolly Grant Airport and paid floral tributes to the deceased pilot. Among them were Uttarakhand Cabinet Minister Dinesh Aggarwal, Doiwala MlA Hira Singh Bisht, SSP Dr Sadanand Date, Chief Development Officer Alok Kumar Pandey.
“Bhagwati Prasad Bhatt Amar Rahe” was heard as his body was brought from Delhi to Jolly Grant airport by a chopper from where his family, friends and BSF officials brought him to the bank of Ganga at Kharkhari in a BSF truck with a black flag fluttering in the front. Uttarakhand ADG Ashok Kumar, SSP Haridwar, Senthil Avudai Krishna Raj S, district magistrate Harbans Singh Chugh and senior officials of BSF led the caravan to Haridwar.
Brother of the deceased Rajendra Bhatt was inconsolable. He said that the tragedy had struck them when they were planning for a naming ceremony of his younger child. His wife Swati who hails from Dehradun looked too stunned. Paying tribute to the deceased in glowing terms, the commandant of BSF at Doiwala, Bhupender Singh said, “He was a courageous officer. Soon after the take -off when he comprehended that the plane had developed a serious technical snag, he could have used a parachute to drop himself down to safety. But he tried hard to take the plane to the less crowded area to spare the people destruction on the ground. He evaded a school building which otherwise would have been destroyed had he decided otherwise. Civilian deaths could not have been avoided but for his care for the life of the people. He died to save others, gloriously.”
He further said that he was the only pilot hailing from Kedar Rudraprayag valley, and hailing from a poor family, he had seen hardships.