Sappers' Saga released

New Delhi, July 21 (UNI) Bearing testimony to the trials and tribulations of the Indian Sappers in the service of the country, two pictorial compilations are now available detailing the key role played by the Indian Army's Corps of Engineers in nation building and disaster mitigation.

These two books were released today by the senior-most Sapper officer -- and erstwhile Engineer-in-Chief -- Lt Gen KN Dubey and junior-most Sapper officer Lt Prabha Shankar Ojha at a function here attended by a large number of Corps of Engineer officers -- both retired and serving.

With an avowed aim to document a pictorial account of the trials and tribulations of the Corps of Engineers, these two Coffee Table Books -- 'Sappers' contribution in Nation Building' and 'Sappers in Disaster Mitigation' -- have been compiled under the patronage of the Engineer-in-Chief and Senior Colonel Commandant of the Corps of Engineers Lt Gen BS Dhaliwal.

The Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army is the key player in all rescue and relief activities -- it having set a benchmark for service to the Nation. The sands of time bear testimony to the innumerable and vast array of indomitable tasks undertaken by the Sappers -- ranging from construction of dams, roads, jettys, and other infrastructure to helping in healing the scars of death and destruction in the wake of disasters such as the Orissa cyclone of 1999, Bhuj earthquake of 2001, Tsunami in 2003 and the Jammu and Kashmir earthquake of 2005.

The Corps of Engineers have been omnipresent in the Nation's time of need true to their motto of 'Sarvatra'.

UNI