App to facilitate nominations for Neerja Bhanot Awards

An app was launched here on Monday to make it convenient for deserving people to be nominated for the Neerja Bhanot Awards.

Neerja Bhanot Pan Am Trust (NBPAT) Managing Trustee and Neerja's brother Akhil Bhanot said that the 'Neerja Bhanot App' will be available on both Android and iOS platforms and can be downloaded for free.

"It will now be possible to nominate a deserving person for the Neerja Bhanot Awards from anywhere in the world by just entering the details on the phone and sending the nomination to the Neerja Bhanot Pan Am Trust by clicking a button," Bhanot said.

The annual Neerja Bhanot Awards were instituted in 1990 in the memory of the brave Pan-Am senior flight purser, Neerja, who saved scores of lives by sacrificing her own when a Pan Am plane was hijacked at Karachi Airport in September 1986.

"The Awards are based on the two core values of Neerja: Do your duty, come what may and never tolerate injustice or compromise on self-respect," her brother Aneesh Bhanot said. The awards carry a cash prize of Rs 1.50 lakh each, a citation and a trophy.

The first award is conferred on an Indian woman who, when faced with social injustice, overcomes the situation with guts and grit and then helps other women in social distress, while the second award is conferred on any airline cabin crew member worldwide, who goes beyond the call of duty in a difficult situation.

"Anyone can nominate anybody and the trust also accepts self-nominations. There is no nomination fee or any other sort of fees. Nominations are accepted throughout the year by the trust. The Neerja Bhanot Pan Am Trust does not accept any donations either," Bhanot said.

--IANS

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