Chief of Naval Staff presents awards

Various gallantry and non-gallantry awards, announced on Republic Day this year, were presented to Naval personnel by Admiral Sunil Lanba, Chief of the Naval Staff (CNS), at the Naval Investiture Ceremony for 2018, held at Southern Naval Command, Kochi, on Tuesday.

As many as 38 medals including four Nao Sena medals for gallantry, 13 Nao Sena medals for devotion to duty and 16 Vishisht Seva medals for distinguished service, besides two Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak and one Jeevan Raksha Padak for courage displayed in saving lives, Captain Ravi Dhir Memorial gold medal for promoting innovativeness in flight safety and Lieutenant V.K. Jain Memorial gold medal for best applied research in Naval technology were presented, said an official release.

Unit citations

The CNS also presented unit citations to five operational units — INS Tabar, INS Kirch, INS Sharda (ships), INS Sindhugosh (submarine), and Indian Naval Air Squadron 310; as well as four shore establishment: INS Shivaji at Lonavala, Naval Aircraft Yard, Goa, INS Kattabomman, Tirunelveli and INS Jarawa in Andaman and Nicobar Command for delivering exceptional performance over the past one year. Naval Ship Repair Yard, Kochi and INS Tunir at Karanja, Maharashtra were awarded the ‘CNS Trophy for Best Green Practices’ for their environment-friendly, green initiatives.

A guard of honour and a ceremonial parade were also part of the ceremony.

Devotion to duty

In his address, Admiral Lanba said the occasion was of special significance, as it allowed the Navy to formally acknowledge conspicuous acts of gallantry, as well as devotion to duty, of fellow shipmates. He thanked the family members of the award winners for their support to the service personnel in their performance of duty.