People of Baramulla have lost more than anyone else, says Chinar Corps on CDS Rawat's death

People of Jammu and Kashmir's Baramulla have lost more than anyone else in Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat's death as he had a close connection with them, said General Officer Commanding of the Army's Chinar Corps, Lieutenant General DP Pandey on Thursday.

Lieutenant General Pandey was addressing the media after paying tribute to General Rawat at Sherwani Community Hall, Baramulla district of Jammu and Kashmir.

A two-day condolence ceremony is being organised at Sherwani Community Hall, Baramulla to pay homage to India's first Chief of Defence Staff.

Lieutenant General DP Pandey, GOC Chinar Corps along with GOC Dagger Division, Major General Ajay Chandpuri and prominent persons from civil and district administration paid homage.

"I do not think I have seen the amount of love and connection which he had with the people of Uri, Baramulla and with the people of whole Kashmir. We will take time to recover from this loss. If you see the display picture especially of the media-men, I think everyone has a picture with him," said General Pandey.

He further said that General Rawat used to attend phone calls from everyone from Baramulla. "He would listen to their requirements and then he would call me and ask me to listen to their demands and help them. I am sure the people of Baramulla have lost more than anyone else," he said.

"I really wanted to come here to Baramulla where he was a GOC. Though he was also the commander of 5 Sector (RR), the two tenures were close to his heart especially because of the people. I am sure you all must be feeling this loss like the Indian Army, Armed forces and the whole country is feeling. His wife and others were also killed and this is a huge tragedy and it will take a lot of time for us to come out of this grief," he added.

Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Bipin Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat and 11 others, who were on board IAF's Mi-17V5 helicopter, died in the crash on Wednesday.

The last rites will be held in Delhi on Friday with military honours. A funeral procession will start from Kamraj Marg to Brar Square crematorium in Delhi Cantonment on Friday.

The mortal remains were today brought to Madras Regimental Centre from Military Hospital, Wellington in Nilgiris district. People paid floral tribute to the deceased here.

The government today ordered a 'tri service' enquiry into the accident.The enquiry will be headed by Air Marshal Manvendra Singh, Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief Training Command.

Both Houses of Parliament observed two-minutes silence on the demise of 13 people.

According to the sources, the black box of the chopper has been recovered.Meanwhile, a team of the state's Forensic Science Department also visited the crash site.

A total of 14 people were on-board the IAF's helicopter. Group Captain Varun Singh is the lone survivor of the crash and is presently on life support in Military Hospital, Wellington.

Those who died in the crash include General Rawat, his wife Madhulika Rawat, his Defence Adviser Brigadier Lakhbinder Singh Lidder, Staff Officer Lieutenant Colonel Harjinder Singh and nine other Armed Forces personnel including the Air Force helicopter crew.

Their names are Wing Commander Prithvi Singh Chauhan, Squadron Leader Kuldeep Singh, Junior Warrant Officer Rana Pratap Das, Junior Warrant Officer Arakkal Pradeep, Havildar Satpal Rai, Naik Gursewak Singh, Naik Jitendra Kumar, Lance Naik Vivek Kumar, Lance Naik B Sai Teja.

( With inputs from ANI )

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