New Delhi: President of India Ram Nath Kovind conferred the Kirti Chakra, the second highest peacetime gallantry medal, on Odia CRPF jawan Pradeep Kumar Panda at a function at the Rashtrapati Bhawan here on Tuesday.
The posthumous gallantry medal was received by Panda’s wife.
“I feel proud of my husband for his supreme sacrifice for the sake of the motherland,” she told mediapersons later. “I have decided to sent my two children into the armed forces to maintain the legacy of their father.”
A native of Rajgangpur in Sundargarh district, Panda was martyred while fighting heavily armed terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama in 2017. Panda was attached to the CRPF’s 132 battalion and had joined the paramilitary force in 2006.
Militants had stormed the CRPF training centre at Pulwama, Jammu and Kashmir, on December 30, 2017. Constables Panda and Rajendra Kumar Nain and their commander assistant commandant Zile Singh, who has been awarded the Shaurya Chakra, displayed exemplary bravery in thwarting the deadly fidayeen attack that went on for over 36 hours.
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