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The Vice President, Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat released, a set of two commemorative postage stamps in honour of Ashok Chakra winners Neerja Bhanot and Randhir Prasad Verma posthumously. The stamps in the denomination of rupees five each were released at a simple function held here today which was attended by the Minister of State for Communications & Information Technology, Dr. Shakeel Ahmad.
Neerja Bhanot has the pride of being the only Indian to have been conferred with the “Heroism Award of the Flight Safety Foundation”. She is internationally acclaimed as ‘the heroine of the hijack’ soon after the incident of hijack of Pan American Airways flight from Bombay to New York when the plane was hijacked at Karachi Airport on September 5, 1986. On the fateful day, she as the Flight Purser of Pan American Airways, showed exemplary courage in coming forward and identifying herself as the crew member before the terrorist-hijackers. She also comforted the passengers, especially the elders and kids. At one point of time she even hid the passports of Americans who were the prime targets of the terrorists. Finally, at the end, when the hijackers opened fire and set off explosives, she acted swiftly and opened the emergency doors and helped a number of passengers to escape. However, while shielding three children from a hail of bullets, she was fatally wounded by the gunfire.
Likewise, Randhir Prasad Verma, who joined the Indian Police Service in 1974, had the pride of eliminating the notorious ‘Matka Gamblers’ gang. On the fateful day of 3rd January 1991, immediately on coming to know about an attempt by dacoits to rob the Hirapur Branch of Bank of India in Dhanbad, he rushed to the spot barely with the help of his bodyguards and entered the building. He faced a hail of gunfire by the dacoits. He took out his service revolver and asked the robbers to surrender. However, the robbers fatally wounded him by two gun shots. When the robbers tried to escape, but were caught by the stunned spectators and two of them were lynched by the mob. Randhir Prasad Verma set an example for the society by his act of gallantry. He was not intimidated despite being outnumbered by the robbers who were armed with superior weapons.
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