Shimla, Sept 23 : Six people in Himachal Pradesh have received the Godfrey Phillips Bravery Awards for displaying extraordinary feat of courage.
The people won the medals for saving lives, property and also for their contribution to the social causes.
Himachal Pradesh Governor VS Kokje, awarded the medals to the recipients.
Ranjinder Kumar Sen who won the gold medal for physical bravery had single-handedly prevented three dacoits from looting a bank.
“Our residence was near the bank. I was alone at my house. One night, three people wearing masks came with the intention of looting the bank. I fought unarmed with all my courage. And I was successful,” said Rajinder Kumar Sen.
Under the social category, Sanjeev Atri, a teacher, was awarded the medal for spreading awareness against drugs. He also initiated efforts to close down the shops selling drugs to schoolchildren.
Atri has also made documentary films to accelerate his mission against drugs.
“I have been awarded in the social category for fighting against drugs. For the last nine years, I have been conducting awareness campaigns against drugs. I have tried to campaign against the use of drugs by organising seminars in schools and in different organisations. I have been successful in spreading awareness against drugs among people and many have even left taking drugs. I have made films on this topic for Doordarshan and also written books,” said Sanjeev Atri, silver medalist for social acts of courage.
Tobacco major Godfrey Phillips incorporated the awards with an aim to contribute towards social causes and award people for their exhibition of courage.
“As a corporate organization, we have a social responsibility. Every corporate does some degree of public social responsibility. Some have opened up hospitals, some have constructed schools, some are giving donations for various social causes, we wanted to invest in something, which is more of a concreted effort to help society at large. Bravery is a very important attribute,” said Harminjit Singh, General Manager, Corporate Affairs, Godfrey Phillips India Ltd.
The recipients of the awards were Rajinder Kumar Sen, Sulekha Devi, Rudesh Chand, Ravi Kumar, Jitendra Kumar for physical bravery and Sanjeev Atri, Relu Ram Thakur for social acts.