Defence photo officers honoured at Drass

CHANDIGARH: Colonel Basu Deb Maitra and Lt Col Deepak Dass, both the retired photo officers of photo division, directorate of public relations (DPR), ministry of defence, who had captured the Kargil war with camera's lens, were honoured on Tuesday at Kargil War memorial during Kargil Vijay Diwas celebration 2016 at Drass.
They were honoured by Army chief, Gen Dalbir Singh and by Lt Gen DS Hooda, army commander of army's northern command.
Both the officers paid floral tributes to the martyrs and brave soldiers during wreath laying ceremony held at Kargil War memorial at Drass. Later they presented few historic signature photographs of Kargil War to the Army commander Lt Gen DS Hooda and commanders of other formations at Drass. The photo division of DPR, MoD was tasked for visual coverage the Kargil Operations in 1999 and Lt Col Das was first to reach Drass and Kargil before any media reach.
He nearly escaped death while climbing Tololing. He was also with Capt Vikram Batra and with Capt Kenguruse during thier last assault. A national photo awardee and personally praised by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, his photos were published in national and international newspapers, magazines including Time and Janes defence weekly.
“It is certainly be a historic and nostalgic moment in my life to stand at the foothill of mighty Tololing peak after so many years where I escaped death narrowly from Pakistani firing during Kargil war in 1999” said Lt Col Das. He also narrated emotionally about his days with martyred Capt Vikram Batra and coverage in Gun Hill operations.
Col Maitra said “ we are very grateful to Indian Army and specially to Army Cdr Lt Gen DS Hooda who himself recognized our contributions after 17 years and invited us”. He also added that we felt very proud to pay floral tribute to our martyrs here and promised that alongwith all other officers of DPR, he would come in Kargil Vijay Diwas celebration at Drass in 2017.