CIL recognises bravery of its retired officer after 24 yrs

Almost 24 years since the incident occurred, Coal India has honoured one of its retired Engineer-In-Chief for saving 65 people trapped in the Mahabir mine in West Bengal.
Er. Jaswant Singh Gill (Rtd Engineer-In-Chief) was recognised with "Special Award for Outstanding Contribution Made in Saving Lives of Trapped Miners" along with a cheque of Rupees one lakh on November 1 during the 39th Foundation Day Ceremony of Coal India in Kolkata.
The ceremony was attended by Union Coal Minister Shriprakash Jaiswal who handed over a cheque of Rupees One lakh along with the award to Gill.
The incident dates back to November 16, 1989 when 65 miners were trapped in the flooded Mahabir mine of Raniganj Area in West Bengal. Gill, then working with the state-owned Coal India rescued all of them with the help of a special capsule method.

Narrating the events of the fateful night during an interaction with the media here last night, Gill said he got a special capsule fabricated and a new hole of 21 inch diameter was bored through which he entered the mine at 2:30 am and sent out the trapped miners one by one before returning last at 8:30 am.
Gill was conferred with "Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak" in 1991 by the then President Ramaswamy Venkataraman.

However, it is only now, after 24 years that Coal India has acknowleged Gill for his courage.
Gill said he felt honoured at the moment but Coal India taking 25 years to officially acknowledge his historic achievement also saddened him as whatever he is today is because of Coal India.

The capsule method used by Gill was also adopted by other countries as seen in Chile where 33 miners were rescued in 2011 after almost 100 days of entrapment.
Gill is currently a member of Disaster Managment Committee of Amritsar along with being a visiting professor of Mining at Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, President Elect of Rotary Club Of Amritsar among other positions.