Honoured, Shaurya Chakra awardee all praises for his team

LUDHIANA: Major Pradeep Shoury Arya, the IRS (Indian Revenue Service) officer, who was first civil servant of India to be awarded with Shaurya Chakra for leading a heroic operation in Kashmir in which several terrorists were gunned down, was honoured in Ludhiana on Tuesday. He was here to take part in the celebrations of Income Tax Day and inauguration of the vertical garden at Ludhiana railway station.
Speaking to TOI, the 2004-batch IRS officer, who also has the licence of commercial pilot, said, “I always dreamt about serving the nation and took the UPSC exam with the goal of becoming an IPS. But, I got selected for IRS.

“My love for uniform did not change and I told myself, that if I do not like what I am doing (IRS), I will go back to my previous job of a pilot. But when I came to know about the entry to the armed forces through territorial army, I decided to give it my best shot and succeeded.”

During his post-commission training at Indian Military Academy (IMA), Dehradun, Maj Arya was adjudged the best officer trainee in the overall order of merit and was awarded the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose gold medal. He also has the distinction of being the only officer from the Indian Revenue Service (IRS), to have the honour of serving the ministry of finance and the ministry defence simultaneously.

Speaking of his heroic act of eliminating terrorists during an operation in Kashmir as part of special forces, for which he was conferred Shaurya Chakra this Republic Day, Maj Arya said, “The Shuarya Chakra is not just an appreciation of individual effort, but of the entire team which took part in the operation. It was only due to the effort of every member of the team that this operation was successful.”

Major Arya also has to his credit the achievement of busting the terror funding network in Kashmir Valley. Later he was conferred the Chief of Army Staff (COAS) commendation in recognition for distinguished service towards contribution in investigation and tracking the money laundering and flow of funds, for terrorism and anti-national activities. According to Major Arya, it was his instinct as an IRS officer along with the spirit of serving the country, that helped him make this and every other operation successful.

Arya who also holds masters’ degree in sociology, masters’ in business administration, masters in law, masters’ in taxation and doctorate in psephology. He also revceived the National Award, 2013, from the President of India for best electoral practices, instituted by the election commission of India in effectively controlling large quantity of cash during elections in Karnataka and the north-eastern state of Nagaland. During his visit to Ludhiana, Major Arya delivered a lecture titled ‘Service before self’ to the IRS officers of Ludhiana.