18 from state to get awards during I-Day function in city

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 14

A total of 18 persons from different walks of life will be given awards at a state-level function which is going to be held at Guru Gobind Singh Stadium tomorrow.

Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh will unfurl the National Flag. Rajesh Kumar Bhagat, a member of Juvenile Justice Board, Kapurthala, and Pandit Manu Seen, Sitar player and an artist of All India Radio (AIR), both from Jalandhar, will receive the award.

Rajesh Kumar Bhagat is into social service for the last 45 years. He is a retired government employee and has also worked in Permanent Lok Adalat and Consumer court. He has been organising medical camps, providing stationery free of cost to the poor students, giving lectures to the school students on how they can become good citizens.

When Bhagat was working in Consumer court, he visited various villages to make the people aware of how the consumer court was helpful to them and what steps they could follow if they were duped by shopkeepers or anyone suffered from medical negligence.

Bhagat said I used to tell the gullible people that they would not have to shell any money or not get harrassed, and their cases would be dealt with. Likewise, he would also tell people about the services provided by District Legal Services Authority (DLSA).

Bhagat has also extended helping hand by providing aid at border areas.

Pandit Manu Seen is well-known for his vibrant and soulful Sitar playing, combined with the knowledge of subtle techniques and his mastery over the sitar,bandishbase and Rasas. He has a number of audio-video CDs to his credit. Manu Seen is well known for his electrifying and vibrant sitar performance. Not only had this, by mixing various ragas and experimenting, Manu Seen shared that he had found two new Ragas ie ‘Madhuranjani’ and Rajeshwari kauns.

He said: “He has also composed many songs, ghazals, group songs and classical compositions etc.”

While sharing the story of his initial days, Manu said: “I was first introduced to vocal music and ‘Tabla’ by my father, a “National Sangeet Natak Academi Award” winner, a tabla maestro and torch- bearer of “Punjab Gharana of Tabla Acharya Lachhman Singh Seen.”

Manu’s father founded a music institution “Sangeet Vilas” in 1950 which is presently run by him. He also shared that he impart free training to the students who cannot afford to pay.

Dr Devinder Singh Sandhu from Ludhiana will also be awarded during the state-level Independence Day function for expertise in his field. Sandhu has done MD (Medicine) and then DM in Medical Oncology at AIIMS.

Sandhu said, “ I had performed Punjab’s first bone marrow transplant in Ludhiana in 2006.”

Sandhu is also associated with an NGO, ,Cancer Council of India’ as its executive chairman.

Coordinators who worked to make every facility assessible to the differently abled, under the guidance of Amarjit Singh Anand, member of the Punjab State Divyangjan Advisory Board, will also be awarded tomorrow.

They had done auditing of the booths during Lok Sabha poll 2019 and after that the desired facilities were made available for the differently abled who earlier used to suffer a lot.