BENGALURU: Five Fire Service personnel in Karnataka have been conferred with the President of India’s Fire Service Gallantry Medal on the occasion of the Republic Day celebrations, for carrying out rescue operations during Dharwad building collapse in March 2019, in which 19 people had lost their lives and 54 were rescued. This is the first time that five fire personnel from the state have been awarded the covetous award.
M N Reddi, Director General of Police and Chief of Fire & Emergency Services, Home Guards, Civil Defence & State Disaster Response Force, on Saturday, tweeted a congratulatory message for the five fire personnel and called it a “unique, unprecedented and proud moment for us as the Hon’ble President of India has awarded 5 officers of the Karnataka Fire Emergency Services with Gallantry Medals on the occasion of the Republic Day 2020!!” (sic).
The five awardees are RH Javagal, Deputy Director, Karnataka State Fire & Emergency Services, Firemen - NM Pavadi, AK Vader, D G Honehalli and Fireman Driver SR Uppaar. The fire personnel, along with National Disaster Relief Force and State Disaster Relief Force teams rescued 54 people, some who were trapped for more than two days after an under-construction commercial building in Dharwad Sub-urban Police Station limits had collapsed.
Besides the Gallantry medal for Fire Services, 19 police officers in the state have been awarded the President’s Police Medal for Meritorious Service. They are BN Oblesh, SP, BMTF; K M Mahadeva Prasad, Commandant, IRB, Munirabad; M G Pampapathi, ACP, Marathahalli sub-division, Bengaluru City; H N Dharmendra, ACP, Vijayanagar sub-division, Bengaluru City; S T Chandrashekar, DySP, CID, Bengaluru; Shankar M Ragi, ACP. North sub-division, Hubballi city; C Siddaraju, DySP, SIT, KLA, Bengaluru; A G Kariappa, DySP, SIT, KLA, Bengaluru; Sangappa S Hullur, DySP, Kalaburagi Rural sub-division, Kalaburagi District; AV Lakshminarayana, DySP, Magadi sub-division, Ramanagara district; B G Shankarappa, inspector, CID, Bengaluru; BS Satish, inspector, ACB, Udupi district;, Babusingh H Kittur, sub-division, Hubballi-Dharwad city; K Venkatesh, assistant sub-inspector, Basavanagudi, Bengaluru city; S Sukumar, assistant sub-inspector, Chikkamagaluru Rural; Rajkumar, armed reserve sub-inspector, District Armed Reserve, Mysuru; P S Shivakumar, head constable, State Intelligence, Bengaluru; G C Nanjundaiah, head constable, State Intelligence, Bengaluru; and R Ranganath, CHC, State Crime Records Bureau, Bengaluru.