Chhattisgarh CM honored rescue team engaged in “Mission Save Rahul” for their bravery and outstanding work

Raipur: Chief minister Bhupesh Baghel said that a documentary film should be made on the rescue operation conducted to safely evacuate 10-year-old Rahul trapped in a borewell in Janjgir-Champa district so that people across the country could better understand the experiences of the rescue team. This film will also give an important lesson to prevent such incidents in future.

He was addressing a ceremony organized at his residence office here today to honor district administration officials, NDRF and SDRF team, Army and Police personnel and other officials and people for their outstanding efforts to rescue the child trapped in the borewell of village Pihrid in Janjgir-Champa district.

Baghel announced that the entire cost of Rahul’s education and medical expenses would be borne by the state government. Expressing his heartfelt gratitude to the entire rescue team, he said “The mission was arduous with many hurdles and struggles and has been accomplished only because of your understanding, hard work, dedication and courage. A documentary film based on the entire incident should be made so that people can watch it, understand it and to avoid such incidents in future. The child Nazrul and the whole team, who pulled out child Rahul Sahu from the borewell, will be invited and honored in the Rajyotsava as well.”

Heaping praise on the entire team, Chief Minister said “You all stood firm even in adverse circumstances and made untiring efforts round the clock, working in the scorching heat and uncomfortable hot nights, to save the boy. Rahul’s courage and bravery kept the hopes of his rescuers alive, boosting their morale to keep moving.”

He added that a number of challenges were faced during the massive rescue operation. However, there was no dearth of courage and enthusiasm among the team. All the necessary machineries and manpower were made available. Soon after receiving information about the incident, all teams and experts concerned were informed. He said that the team has worked tirelessly round the clock for 5 days in this rescue operation that lasted for 104 hours. Words will fall short to appreciate the dedication and hard work of entire team.

Agriculture Minister Ravindra Choubey, MLA Ramkumar Yadav, Director General of Police Ashok Juneja, Additional Chief Secretary Subrat Sahoo, Principal Secretary Manoj Kumar Pingua, Chief Minister’s Secretary Siddharth Komal Singh Pardeshi, Army Brigadier Vignesh Mohanty, Commissioner Public Relations Dipanshu Kabra and members of the rescue team were present on the occasion.
At the programme, Janjgir-Champa district collector Jitendra Shukla gave detailed information about the rescue operation. He said that Chief Minister had given clear instructions to make every possible effort to rescue Rahul from the borewell safe and sound. Chief Minister had assured of providing all the resources required for the rescue operation. NDRF and SDRF teams took their positions, the army reached on the spot as well.

IG Bilaspur range Ratanlal Dangi said that this operation has proven that “Chhattisgarhiya Sable Badhiya”. We were continuously discussing the situation. Chief Minister had promised Rahul’s grandmother that Rahul be rescued at all cost and he will be home safe and sound. Circumstances were beyond difficult, but the hard work of the team, leadership of Chief Minister and the prayers of everyone made the operation successful.

Director Public Relations Saumil Ranjan Choubey said that team of Public Relations Department worked 24×7, especially the officials and employees of the Directorate of Public Relations. They played an important role in timely conveying the factual information to media. PR team brought the entire Chhattisgarh together and got everyone emotionally involved. He told that Assistant Public Relations Officer Kamal Jyoti Jahire and his team worked continuously for 72 hours without sleeping. More than 100 tweets were made from CMO handle, which is more than the number of breaking news of any news channel.