Decorated Colonel loses cancer battle

Ajay Banerjee

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 9

A fine soldier of the country who, till recently, was leading the elite 2 Para (Special Forces) tasked in Jammu and Kashmir died this morning following a year-long “battle” against cancer.

Colonel Navjot Singh Bal, a gallantry awardee, a gentleman, a marathoner and idolised by several within the secretive “Para- SF” died at a military hospital in Bangalore. His father Lt Col KS Bal, who retired from Garhwal Rifles, hails from Amritsar and is now based in Gurugram.

The Army has left it to the family to decide the location of his cremation. Permission has come to fly out his parents in a military plane or to bring the mortal remains to the place of family’s choice. Civilian flights are suspended.

Colonel Bal, is survived by his wife Aarti and his sons Zorawar and Sarbaaz, aged 8 and 4 years, respectively.

In 2003, operating in Lolab valley of J&K, Col Bal had earned the Shaurya Chakra, the third highest peace-time gallantry award.

In 2018, he noticed swelling in his right arm after doing chin ups. Several medical consultations followed in the US and also at the Tata cancer research, and, in March 2019, it was decided that his right arm had to be amputated. Doctors at the Army’s Research and Referral Hospital at Delhi did the amputation to prevent the spread of cancer.

Unfortunately, the cancer aggressively impacted his lungs, liver and heart.