THE MAIN GATE TO JALANDHAR CANTT NEAR RAMA MANDI CHOWK NAMED AS ‘HARBAKSH DWAR’

JALANDHAR: To bestow honour upon its veterans, Vajra Corps on Saturday dedicated various landmarks in the name of war heroes and sports veterans.

HT PHOTOAn army veteran being honoured at the Jalandhar Cantonment on Saturday.

During an event organised by the Corps in the Jalandhar cantonment area, general officer commanding (GOC), Vajra Corps, Lieutenant General JS Cheema, announced landmarks renamed in the names of war heroes.

He announced that the gate to Jalandhar Cantt near Rama Mandi Chowk has been named as ‘Harbaksh Dwar’.

It was inaugurated by Lt Gen MS Bhullar (Retd), former Colonel of the Sikh Regiment. Let Gen Harbaksh had led the Western Command to victory in the 1965 Indo-Pak war.

Meanwhile, the road leading from Harbaksh Dwar has been named as ‘Rajindar Singh Sparrow Road’, to honour the legendary Maj Gen RS Sparrow, Maha Vir Chakra (MVC) and Bar. The road was inaugurated by his sons Lt Gen MS Shergill & TS Shergill.

The other roads that have been named were Lt Gen JS Dhillon Road, who was the Corps Commander of Vajra Corps in 1965 and Vikram Batra Road named after Capt Vikram Batra, PVC, who evicted the Pakistani soldiers from Kargil heights in the 1999 Kargil conflict.

The road leading to Hari Pal Kaushik Sports Complex has been named as ‘Dhyan Chand Road’ after the legendary hockey wizard Maj Dhyan Chand.

It was inaugurated by Col (Retired) Balbir Singh Kular, a renowned hockey player and native of Jalandhar.

The sports complex of Vajra Officers Institute has been christened as ‘Hari Pal Kaushik Sports Complex’.

The complex was dedicated to legendary 82-year-old Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Hari Pal Kaushik, Veer Chakra (VrC).

Lt Col Hari Pal Kaushik is the only officer of the Indian Army who has been honoured with two prestigious awards.

He has been honoured with Vir Chakra for his act of gallantry in the 1962 war with China and Arjuna Award for representing the country in three Olympics i.e. in 1956, 1960 & 1964, winning Gold, Silver & Gold medal, respectively

A host of prominent hockey players, mainly from the Sikh Regiment Lieutenant General (Retired) MS Bhullar, Major General (Retired) Trilochan Singh, Brigadier (retired) HJS Chimni, Brigadier (retired) IS Gakhal, Colonel (retired) RS Cheema and Colonel (retired) Balbir Singh Kular were present on the occasion.

Salinder Kaur w/o late Sub Maj Makhan Singh was presented with a cheque for `1 lakh from zonal president of the Vajra Army Wife Welfare Association (AAWA) Anupvir Kaur.

Late Sub Maj Makhan Singh had won gold and silver medal in athletics at Jakarta Asian Games in 1962 .

He had beaten legendary Milkha Singh in the 1962 National Games in Kolkata.

In addition to this, Havildar Virender Singh of 5011 ASC Bn & Sep Ramudri Someswara Rao of 11 Madras Regiment were honoured with cash prize of `50,000 each by GOC Vajra Corps.

Havildar Virendra Singh has qualified for Rio Paralympics Games to be held in Brazil and will participate in javelin and shortput events.

Sepoy Ramudri Someswara Rao is a blade runner and has represented the Services at the national level para athletic championship winning gold in the 100-meter race.