Lt-Gen Mahajan pays tribute to EME martyrs

Bhopal, Dec 1 (UNI) 'Naib Subedar Daniel Koshy... Craftsman Harchand Singh... Major Davias W...' the names on the War Memorial at the Electronics and Mechanical Engineers (EME) Centre in nearby Bairagarh go on in a manner reminiscent of the USS Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor in the United States.

But these are Indian heroes, who made the supreme sacrifice in conflict zones ranging from colonial-era Burma (now Myanmar) to Operation Pawan in Sri Lanka and were yesterday remembered at a solemn ceremony during which Lieutenant-General Arvind Mahajan, Ati Vishisht Seva Medal -- also the EME Corps Director-General -- laid a wreath at the column as part of his two-day visit to the 3 EME Centre.

''The approximately 12 m-high memorial was built in a span of just 90 days and unveiled on September 4, 2000 by the then DGEME Lt-Gen M R Kochhar, Param Vishisht Seva Medal,'' an Army officer explained.

The epitaph reads, ''Dedicated to the personnel of the Corps of Electronics and Mechanical Engineers who laid down their lives in the service of the country.

They bravely answered duty's call their lives they gave one and all.'' Set in an exquisite garden, the memorial is approached through gates that proudly display the EME coat of arms and motto 'Karm hi dharm' (Work is Supreme Duty). Just outside one gate are immortal poet Maithili Sharan Gupta's famous lines, ''Mujhe tod lena vanmali Us path par dena phenk Matribhumi par sheesh chadane Jis path javen veer anek.'' More UNI AC 1026