Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, July 24: Over 70 personalities from different walks of life were honoured with the Jammu and Kashmir State Awards and Chief Minister’s Gold Medals for the years 2011 to 2014 at a ceremony here.
Governor N N Vohra presented the State Awards in different categories to 57 recipients, while Chief Minister Omar Abdullah awarded Gold Medals and Tabinda Gani Award for bravery to 14 children at the investiture ceremony organised at SKICC on the banks of Dal Lake by General Administration Department.
Prominent among those who received the awards for bravery for the year 2012 included Abdul Latief, a resident of Thatharka village of Gool in Ramban district of Jammu region, for shooting dead a LeT militant, who along with his associates intruded into Latief’s house in 2005 and opened indiscriminate firing killing his brother.
Other awardees included Om Goswami and Ghulam Nabi Khayal (Literature), Deepali Wattal, Ghulam Nabi Bulbul and Triloke Koul (performing arts), Nazir Ahmad Mir and Manzoor Ahmed Naqashgir (Arts and Crafts), Ladakh Heart Foundation Society, Leh (Social Reforms and Empowerment), IAS officers Madhav Lal, Tanveer Jehan, Dr Rajinder Singh (former Principal GMC Jammu) and Uttar Kumar Padha (Meritorious Public Service).
Renowned cardiologist S Jalal, who died in a militant attack last year also received the State Award for meritorious public service, while Ved Rahi received the Lifetime Achievement award.
Other recipients were Ujjwal Gupta and Adil Mohi-ud-Din (Outstanding Sportsperson), outstanding mediapersons namely Mohinder Verma (Special Correspondent Daily Excelsior), Ashok Jailkhani (ADG Prasar Bharti, Broadcasting Corporation of India), Sanjit Khajuria (Director, Prasar Bharti Broadcasting Corporation of India), Bashir Manzar (Printer Publisher and Owner Kashmir Images), Javid Malik (Editor Precious Kashmir), Sameer Arshad (Chief Copy Editor, Times of India, Delhi), Maneesh Chibber (Senior Editor, Legal Affairs Indian Express, New Delhi), Kashmir News Service, Bashir Malik (retd Director News, DD Kendra/Radio Kashmir, Srinagar, Aurangzeb Naqshbandi (Special Correspondent Hindustan Times.
The recipients of State Awards for the year 2013 are Vivek Kumar for Bravery, Ghulam Nabi Firaq (Literature), Narsingh Dev Jamwal and Ali Mohammad (Performing Arts), Syed Amjad Ali (Excellence in Arts and Crafts), Parvez Rasool Zargar (Outstanding Sportsperson), IAS officer Atal Dulloo, Showkat Ahmad Mir (retd KAS Officer), Dr Sushil Kumar Sharma (HoD Cardiology GMC Jammu) and Dr Mohammad Saleem Wani (Addl Professor Urology, SKIMS) for Meritorious Public Service, Sham Koul (posthumously), Bashir Ahmad Sofi, Bureau Chief UNI, Srinagar and S P Sharma, (Outstanding Mediaperson).
The recipients of State Awards for the year 2014 are Ghulam Rasool Tak (Posthumously) and Akhil Singh (Posthumously) for Bravery, G N Gauhar (Literature), Rashid Haafiz and Suraj Singh (Performing Arts).
Majid Ahmad Mir for Excellence in Arts and Crafts, Dr Mohammad Ishaq Wani, Shahzada Bilal Ahmad, Dr Shakti Gupta (Professor and Medical Superintendent AIIMS New Delhi) and Dr Anil Gupta (Professor and Head-Cum-Medical Superintendent Department of Hospital Administration, PGIMER Chandigarh were conferred Meritorious Public Service awards, and Padma Sachdev received Lifetime Achievement award.
The outstanding sports persons who were awarded are Atul Pangotra (Taekwando), Rashid Ahmad Choudhary (Fencing), Rita Devi (Handball), Zakariya Yaseen Bhat (Thang-Ta) and Shubham Khajuria (Cricketer).
The Chief Minister’s Gold Medal for Honesty, Integrity and Meritorious Public Service was awarded to bureaucrats Suresh Kumar, Mohammad Sayeed Khan, Sudarshan Sharma, Zaffar Ahmed Bhat, Mushtaq Ahmed Mir, Dr Ghulam Hassan Shah for the year 2011 and Umang Narula, Farooq Ahmed Peer, Irfan Yaseen, Rashim Kashyap and Mushtaq Ahmad Lone for the year 2012.
Tabinda Gani State Award of Bravery for Children for the year 2012 were awarded to Mohammad Vasat, Muzamil Masood Ganie and Abdul Aziz Sofi.