Big B to confer Neerja Bhanot Award

Legendary actor Amitabh Bachcan, will confer the prestigious 25th Neerja Bhanot Award on Pune-based Mai Sindhutai Sapkal on December 24, 2016, at Ahmedabad. The Neerja Bhanot Award was instituted in the memory of the Chandigarh-born senior flight purser, Neerja Bhanot, who saved hundreds of lives while sacrificing her own during a Pan Am plane hijack at Karachi Airport in September 1986. The Award consists of Rs 1,50,000, a citation and a trophy.

The Jury, which decided to confer the award on Mai Sindhutai Sapkal, included Brigadier Daljit Singh Dhillon, Brigadier JC Sharma and Ashok Laroia. All three are Rotarians and members of Rotary Chandigarh Shivalik Club. The criteria of the Neerja Bhanot Award is that the awardee must be an Indian woman who when faced with social injustice like dowry, desertion et al faces the situation and overcomes it with guts. — TNS