Drass: Bad weather on Monday forced the cancellation of President Ram Nath Kovind’s scheduled visit to Drass in Ladakh to pay homage on the 22nd anniversary of the Kargil Vijay Diwas, officials said here. It is for the second time in three years that the President could not fly to Drass for the Kargil Vijay Diwas celebrations.
Official sources said the President’s chopper could not take off to Drass due to bad weather. In 2019, bad weather had prevented Kovind from visiting Drass and instead he had paid tributes by laying a wreath at the war memorial at Army’s 15 Corps headquarters in Badamibagh in Srinagar.
The celebrations were not held in 2020 due to the Covid pandemic.
Meanwhile, Lieutenant Governor Ladakh UT, Radha Krishna Mathur on Monday led the 22nd anniversary of ‘Kargil Vijay Diwas’ celebrations at the Drass War Memorial where he laid a wreath to respect the soldiers who laid their lives in Kargil War.
The LG said that the country is in eternal gratitude to them.
LG Mathur said that the whole nation is indebted to the war heroes and their families for their supreme sacrifice and their acts of great valour and gallantry.
Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, CEC, LAHDC, Kargil Feroz Ahmad Khan, CEC, LAHDC, Leh Advocate Tashi Gyaltson, Member Parliament Ladakh Jamyang Tsering Namgyal, GOC-in-C Northern Command Lt General YK Joshi, AOC-in-C Western Air Command BR Krishna, Advisor to LG Ladakh Umang Narula, GOC 14 Corps Lt General PGK Menon, Air Vice Marshal T Singh, Major General Nagendra Singh GOC 8 Mountain Division, ADGP Ladakh S S Khandare, Deputy Commissioner Kargil Santosh Sukhadeve, SSP Kargil Anayat Ali Choudhary besides other officers of Army, civil and police administration were present on the occasion.
The LG also interacted with the next of kin (NoKs) of soldiers killed in Kargil war and presented them gifts.
The Indian Army in a statement said that a solemn ceremony to celebrate the 22nd anniversary of the Kargil Vijay Diwas at the Kargil War Memorial, Drass was held with RK Mathur, Lt Governor as the Chief Guest who laid a wreath and paid his tributes to the fallen soldiers in a ceremony held at Kargil War Memorial, symbolising ‘Shradhanjali’ from the entire nation to the bravehearts.
“This year’s Kargil Vijay Diwas celebrations were unique in two ways as the Kargil Vijay Diwas coincided with the ‘Swarnim Vijay Varsh Victory Flame’ reaching the Kargil War Memorial. The Journey of the Victory Flame across the country commemorates 50 years of triumph in the 1971 Indo-Pak War,” it said.
“On 26 July, at the Kargil War Memorial, the proceedings commenced with the reception of the ‘Swarnim Vijay Varsh Victory Flame’ at the Kargil War Memorial by General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Defence Staff in the presence of Lt Gen YK Joshi, GOC-in-C Northern Command, Lt Gen PGK Menon, GOC 14 Corps, Lt Gen DP Pandey, GOC 15 Corps and Lt Gen MV Suchindra Kumar, GOC 16 Corps, other officers, gallantry awardees, Veer Naris, NoKs of martyrs and civil dignitaries,” it said.
“It was followed by a solemn wreath laying ceremony by esteemed civil and military dignitaries. The gallantry awardees of the Kargil War, next of kin of bravehearts, and ‘veer naris’ also paid their tributes to the fallen heroes with tearful nostalgia. Every year on this day, the nation pays homage to the supreme sacrifices made by our bravehearts during Operation VIJAY in the Kargil War of 1999,” the statement added.