JAMMU: A major-rank Army officer on Thursday died en route the cave shrine of Mata Vaishnodevi after falling from a pony in Trikuta hills of Jammu and Kashmir’s Reasi district.
The deceased Major Pardeep Singh was brother-in law of former Deputy Commissioner Jammu Simrandeep Singh and brother of Sushman Chouhan, former Director Tourism.
Sources told STATE TIMES that Major Pardeep Singh, before embarking on the pilgrimage, decided at the last moment to go by pony instead of the helicopter, for which he was already booked, alongwith his wife and son. The young son was riding the same pony when the Major had a fall.
“Major Pardeep Singh was on his way to cave shrine when he fell down from a pony near Indarprasth on Adhkuwari stretch in the district today,” SSP Reasi Tahir Bhat said.
Police said that the injured Major was shifted to a dispensary at Adhkuwari where doctors declared him brought dead, he said. Pardeep (36) was posted at 87th Brigade in Udhampur district and he was the son of Brigadier Kamal Singh Chauhan. He hails from Uttar Pradesh’s Kanpur.
Governor N.N Vohra, Chairman of the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine Board, has condoled the death of Major Pradeep Singh Chauhan. Immediately after receiving information about the accident, senior officers of the Board rushed to Adhkuwari and the injured was shifted, in the Board’s ambulance, to Adhkuwari Dispensary.
On the directions of Chairman of the Shrine Board, a helicopter was kept stand by at Katra helipad for shifting the injured to the Shri Mata Vaishno Devi Narayana Superspeciality Hospital, Kakryal. Besides, a Critical Care Ambulance was also rushed to Adhkuwari for shifting of the injured to Katra helipad. However, despite best efforts of the doctors at Adhkuwari Dispensary, the injured officer could not be revived and he was declared as brought dead.
The body was shifted to Community Health Centre, Katra, and after all procedural formalities it was handed over to the family of the deceased officer.
Chairman Shrine Board expressed sympathy with the bereaved family of Major Chauhan and prayed for eternal peace to the departed soul.
Ajeet Kumar Sahu, Chief Executive Officer of the Shrine Board, who was present all along and supervised the shifting of the injured officer first to Medical Unit, Adhkuwari and thereafter his body to Community Health Centre, Katra, has expressed grief over the demise of Major Chauhan, who was the brother of Sushma Chauhan and brother in law of Simrandeep Singh, both IAS officers of the J&K cadre.