State Director General of Police MA Ganapathy has given letter of appreciation to the 17- member State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) mountaineering team led by deputy commandant Navneet Singh Bhullar in recognition of its successful expedition to Satopanth peak (23263 feet) while presiding over a flag-in programme at police lines in Dehradun on Thursday.
Besides, in recognition of the feat of six State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) personnel of rescuing a mountaineer from a 50- feet deep gorge near the high altitude Surale glacier in Uttarkashi district, SDRF had sent a proposal to the state police headquarters for sending their names for the Prime Minister’s Police Medal for life Saving.
While appreciating the works being performed by SDRF personnel, the state police chief said that SDRF personnel would continue to be sent for such tough expeditions in the future so as to make them competent to taken on any disaster that might befall the higher reaches of the Himalayan region.
Notably, the 17- member SDRF mountaineering team led by deputy commandant Navneet Singh Bhullar -under the direction of IG Sanjay Gunjyal- had departed for Satopanth peak (23263 feet)on May 18 after Ganapathy had flagged off the team in Dehradun. It had scaled the peak on June 10.
On June 5, during the mountaineering campaign at Satopanth (between advance base camp (ABC) and Camp-1), a mountaineer Prayang Chaudhary had fallen into a 50 feet gorge at Surale glacier at Kairawas. On being informed of the mishap, the SDRF team, equipped with modern high mountaineering rescue equipment, had plunged into a rescue operation and risking their lives, they had managed to bring Chaudhary to a safer place and given him medical aid.