Rich tributes paid to Kalpana Chawla

Karnal, Feb 1: Memories of Kalpana Chawla came alive as her almamater Tagore Bal Naketan Senior Secondary School in association with Punjab Engineering College Chandigarh Old Boys' Association (PECOBA) paid rich tributes to her on her fifth death anniversary here today.

Her father Banarasi Dass Chawla, who was the chief guest on the occasion, gave away a trophy and cash award of Rs 11,000 each to Jaipal Singh and Rajat Arora, two students of her school for excellence in studies. The awards were sponsored by Roopa and Co. and will be given every year to two briliant students of the school in the name of Kalpana Chawla.

Besides the Kalpana Chawla Award by PECOBA were also given to her 70-year old teacher Santosh Arora, who had taught Kalpana Hindi and Social Studies, and 19-year old national hockey player Kirandeep Kaur. Her award was received by her mother Sukhwinder Kaur.

Most of the speakers, including the principal of Tagore Bal Niketan school, rued that the Government while awarding Padam Awards this year forgot Kalpana who had laid her life for the betterment of the humanity.

They said it was good to award Sunita Williams but Kalpana should not have been ignored. Rather she deserved Bharat Ratna posthumously, the speakers opined.

UNI