A Grade II Artisan working in the High Pressure Boiler Plant of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)- Tiruchi, M. Padmanaban, has been awarded the Jeevan Rakshak Padak 2018 by the Union government in recognition of his act of saving lives at workplace, risking his own life.
Mr. Padmanaban was given the award for his act of bravery and presence of mind in extinguishing a fire which broke out at his workplace due to a leak of highly inflammable acetylene gas from a cylinder used for welding. He quickly identified and deployed the correct fire extinguisher to put out the fire, averting a major disaster as the incident happened close to a LPG (Liquefied Petroleum Gas) line and in proximity to the coal-yard and other inflammable goods.
Mr. Padmanaban received the award from A.R. Sihag, Secretary, Department of Heavy Industry, in the presence of Atul Sobti, Chairman and Managing Director, BHEL, and D. Bandyopadhyay, Director, Human Resources, BHEL, at a function held in New Delhi on Friday, a BHEL press release said.
The Jeevan Rakshak Padak is a civilian life-saving award instituted by the Centre for recognising brave acts of civilians in saving lives from accidents. The award carries a medal, a cash reward of ₹1 lakh and a citation.