12 'Rat Miner' heroes among 49 awardees of 'Jeevan Raksha Padaks'

Rat miners who had who had rescued the construction workers trapped in Silkyara Bend-Barkot tunnel in Uttarakhand in 2023 are among 49 people approved by President Droupadi Murmu for Jeevan Raksha Padaks.

The awards are given for meritorious act in saving the life of a person, on the occasion of 76th Republic Day, a government statement said.

Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak has been awarded to 17 individuals including the team of 12 rat miners and five others posthumously.

Pintu Kumar Sahni from Bihar, Manesh K M from Kerala, Dawa Tshering Lepcha and Pema Tenzing Lachungpa from Sikkim, and Gunner Anis Kumar Gupta of defence ministry have been named for the award posthumously, the government statement said.

The 12-member team of rat miners -- Vaqeel Hassan, Munna Qureshi, Ankur Kumar, Monu Kumar, Devendra, Mohmmed Rashid, Firoz Qureshi, Jatin Kashyap, Saurabh Kashyap, Mohmmed Irshad, Nasruddin, and Naseem -- which worked for 26 hours without break to rescue the workers for 17 days has been given Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak.

The award is given in three categories -- Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak, Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak, and Jeevan Raksha Padak.

"The decoration of the award consists of a Medal, Certificate signed by the Union Home Minister and lump sum Monetary Allowance. It is presented to the awardees by the respective Union Ministries/Organizations/State Government to which the awardee belongs," the statement said.

Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak has been awarded to nine people, including one posthumously and Jeevan Raksha Padak to 23 others.

The awardees of Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak include Ritik Chauhan, Shashikant Ramkrushna Gajbe, NK Shankar Singh Kharayat, Havildar Leki Passang,  Rakesh Singh Rana, Manmohan Singh, Pradeep Kumar and Sachin Kumar.

Rajesh Ranjan Kujur of defence ministry will get medal posthumously.

Jeevan Raksha Padak has been given to Nelli Srinivasa Rao, Vikas Yadav,  Sushri Manishaben Amarshibhai Malakiya, Kumari Diya Fathima, Muhammad Hashir N K, Kishor Kumar Arney, Dadarao Govindrao Pawar, and Dnyaneshwar Mukundrao Bhedodkar.

K Shimreingam Shimray, Elambok Dkhar, Kisen Wanniang, Laltlanzova,  Y Pongba, Ranjana Bhandari, C Anbarasan, Bandakindi Shravan Kumar, Aakash Pradhan, Kali Kinkar Manna, Naik Ajith R Nair, Dhanbeer Singh Negi, Dhanesh Chand Yadav, Sgt Ram Kumar Jaiswal, and Pallabi Biswas would be the rest to get the same award.