Kirti Chakra for martyred Odia CRPF jawan Pradeep Kumar Panda
Martyred Odia CRPF jawan Pradeep Kumar Panda was awarded the Kirti Chakra posthumously, by President Ramnath Kovind at an event in the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Tuesday.
As the room resounded with a thunderous applause, Panda’s wife with glistening eyes received the award from the President. Panda had been killed while fighting the militants who stormed a CRPF camp in Awantipora in Jammu and Kashmir on December 30, 2017. The fight had lasted for over 30 hours.
President Kovind presents Kirti Chakra to Shri Pradip Kumar Panda (Posthumous), Constable, 130 Battalion, CRPF. He displayed exceptional bravery, raw courage, utmost dedication and commitment to duty in fighting terrorists in J&K and made the supreme sacrifice for the nation pic.twitter.com/eeq41jSpcu
— President of India (@rashtrapatibhvn) March 19, 2019
“I feel proud of my husband for his supreme sacrifice for the sake of the motherland. I have decided to sent my two children into the armed forces to maintain the legacy of their father,” she told mediapersons later.
Kirti Chakra was also conferred on Sepoy Vijay Kumar of Indian Army who had displayed exceptional bravery during a counter-terrorist operations in Jammu and Kashmir. Both Panda and Kumar made supreme sacrifice for the nation. Kumar’s wife too received the award on his behalf.
Notably, Panda, a resident of Liploi village in Rajgangpur of Sundargarh district and constable of 130 battalion of CRPF, was killed in a militant attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama on December 31, 2017.
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