Kalam confers bravery, distinguished service awards to 62

New Delhi, Mar 23: President APJ Abdul Kalam today conferred this year's gallantry and distinguished service awards at a simple and solemn ceremony at the Rashtrapati Bhawan here.

The 23 gallantry award winners -- four Kirti Chakra (three posthumous) and 19 Shaurya Chakra (seven posthumous) -- from the armed forces, para military units, police and civilians displayed conspicuous gallantry, indomitable courage and extreme devotion to duty, They include CRPF's Asst Commandant Vezoto Tinyi and Head Constable (now Sub Inspector) Dharambir Singh, who were instrumental in defending the Ram Janambhoomi complex at Ayodhya in the 'fidayeen' attack on July 5 last year.

Mr Tinyi, who was the the shift duty officer at the complex, reacted immediately as the five terrorists broke through the outer cordon and started indiscriminate firing. He deployed his men optimally to withstand the intense fire and grenade attacks. The fierce gunbattle, which lasted a hour and a half, ended with all the five assailants being shot down and the complex being protected from any harm.

Out of the 19 Shaurya Chakra awardees, seven are from the Indian Army's specialised counter-insurgency unit -- the Rashtriya Rifles, which is the forefront of tackling the conflict in Jammu and Kashmir and one from the elite Para (Special Forces).

Dr Kalam also conferred 12 Param Vishisht Seva Medals (PVSMs) and 27 Ati Vishisht Seva Medals (AVSMs) to senior officers of the Armed Forces for distinguished service of an exceptional order.

Prominent recepients of the PVSM include Army Vice Chief Lt Gen Srinivasa Pattabhiraman, Western Naval Command's Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief Vice Admiral Sangram Singh Byce, Southern Air Command's Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Air Marshal Sharad Yeshwant Savur, Central Air Command's Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Air Marshal Jaspal Singh Gujral, Eastern Air Command's Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Air Marshal Fali Homi Major, Adjutant General Lt Gen Anup Singh Jamwal, DG Electronics and Mechanical Engineers Lt Gen Vir Chand Jain, Army's Engineer-in-Chief Lt Gen Ranjit Singh, DG Infantry Lt Gen Devraj Singh, National Cadets Corps DG Lt Gen Mohan Chandra Bhandari, Director General Military Operations (DGMO) Lt Gen Madan Gopal and DG Hospital Services Lt Gen Madan Lal Chawla.

Prominent AVSM winners include Northern Command's General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Lt Gen Deepak Kapoor, Director General Military Intelligence Lt Gen Deepak Harishchandra Summanwar -- the erstwhile public face of the Army as DG Public Information, Armed Forces Medical College Commandant Lt Gen Mudakkanaveetil Prabhakaran Jaiprakash, Chetak (X) Corps' Chief of Staff Maj Gen Shiv Kumar Jaswal, Delhi Area's General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Maj Gen Prabodh Chandra Bhardwaj (IC-24178), Rashtriya Rifles' Kilo Force GOC Maj Gen Mahavir Singh Balhara, former 21 Mtn Div GOC Maj Gen Karan Singh Yadava, Western Naval Command's Chief of Staff Rear Admiral Anup Singh and ADG (Medical Research) Maj Gen Jayakrishnan Jayaram.

Following is the complete list of today's awardees:-

GALLANTRY AWARDS KIRTI CHAKRA

Subedar Jagat Bahadur Ghale JC 617223, 6/5 Gorkha Rifles (Frontier Force) (Posthumous) - received by his wife Ambika Ghale Wing Commander Balakrishna Pillai Sreebhavan Kirshna Kumar Sanjeev, Sub Inspector Andaman and Nicobar Administration (Posthumous) -received by his wife Deepika.

Raghu Ram, Hanumangarh, Rajasthan, (Posthumous) - received by his wife Kamla Devi

SHAURYA CHAKRA

Head Constable Mohd Akhar, Jammu&Kashmir Police (Posthumous) -received by his wife Smt Parveena Begum.

Rifleman Bhupender Singh, Rajputana Rifles/9 Rashtriya Rifles (Posthumous) - received by his wife Smt Mukesh Singh.

Bahadur Singh, Himachal Pradesh (Posthumous) - received by his wife Sangra Devi Major Harmandeep Singh Baidwan Rajputana Rifles/9 Rashtriya Rifles Group Captain Vivek Vikash Bandopadhay, VM Squadron Leader Tammeneni Srinivasulu Sqn Ldr Arisetty Vijay Kumar Rifleman Rajendra Singh Kumaon/60 Rashtriya Rifles Naib Subedar Hem Singh Rajput Rajputana Rifles /9 Rashtriya Rifles (Posthumous) - received by his wife Shashi Bala Subedar Major Lok Nath Sharma Artillery/7 Rashtriya Rifles Captain Sumit Kohli Artillery/14 Rashtriya Rifles Major Kamlesh Manikrao Shende 2 Grenadiers Major Deepak Kumar Padda Armoured Corps/14 Grenadiers (Posthumous) - received by his wife Sonia Padda Dafadar Harbhajan Singh Armoured Corps/8 Rashtriya Rifles (Posthumous) - received by his wife Sarabjit Kaur Havildar Ashok Kumar 9 Parachute Regiment (Special Forces) Havildar Atol Singh Panwar, SM 16 Garhwal Rifles (Posthumous) - received by his wife Savita Devi Asstt Commandant Vezoto Tinyi, Central Reserve Police Force Sub Inspector (GD) Dharambir Singh, Central Reserve Police Force Lieutenant Manish Pandey, Punjab Regiment.

PARAM VISHISHT SEVA MEDAL

Lieutenant General Srinivasa Pattabhiraman, Engineers Vice Admiral Sangram Singh Byce Air Marshal Sharad Yeshwant Savur Air Marshal Jaspal Singh Gujral Air Marshal Fali Homi Major Lieutenant General Anup Singh Jamwal, Artillery Lieutenant General Vir Chand Jain, Electronics and Mechanical Engineers Lieutenant General Ranjit Singh, Engineers Lieutenant General Devraj Singh, Sikh Lieutenant General Mohan Chandra Bhandari, Garhwal Rifles Lieutenant General Madan Gopal, 9 Gorkha Rifles Lieutenant General Madan Lal Chawla, Army Medical Corps

ATI VISHISHT SEVA MEDAL

Lieutenant General Deepak Kapoor, Artillery Lieutenant General Deepak Harishchandra Summanwar, Rajpuatana Rifles Lieutenant General Mudakkanaveetil Prabhakaran Jaiprakash, AMC Major General Subhash Chandra Gogna, Engineers Major General Shiv Kumar Jaswal, Engineers Major General Ashok Khosla, Signals Major General Harjot Singh Sehgal, Artillery Major General Krishna Pillai Sankaranarayana Pillai Venugopal, Electronics and Mechanical Engineers Major General Virendra Kumar Jain, Artillery Major General Parameswaran Pillai Rajagopal, Infantry Major General Prabodh Chandra Bhardwaj, Paras Major General Mahavir Singh Balhara, Infantry Major General Arvinder Singh Lamba, Artillery Major General Karan Singh Yadava, Infantry Major General Jayakrishnan Jayaram, AMC Major General Bikash Krushna Mohanti, AMC Rear Admiral Anup Singh Rear Admiral Sankarannair Balachandran Air Vice Marshal Naresh Verma Brigadier Desh Deepak Kapoor, Artillery Commodore Ajoy Kumar Patnaik Air Vice Marshal Robin Chandra Baruah Air Vice Marshal Vikas Krishna Rao Yajurvedi Air Commodore Lalit Kumar Malhotra Air Commodore Satish Pal Singh Air Commodore Malvinder Singh Ahluwalia Captain S P S Cheema

UNI