Amritsar-based engineer Jaswant Singh Gill honoured with ‘Bangla Gaurav Samman-2024’ posthumously

Jaswant Singh Gill, the Amritsar-based engineer who had adopted the steel capsule technique for the first time in the history of coal mining, has been conferred with the ‘Bangla Gaurav Samman-2024’ posthumously.

The award was accepted by Gill’s son, Dr Sarpreet Singh Gill, during a ceremony held at Kolkata today.

Dr Sarpreet said this was another tribute to his father’s heroic approach to save lives.

Gill had saved the lives of 65 coal miners trapped inside a coal mine in the infamous Raniganj coalmine incident in West Bengal, in 1989.

He had designed a capsule to rescue the miners, ensuring that each one came out safe and alive.

Gill was posted as the Addition Chief Mining Engineer, and was trained in rescue operations.

For his brave feat, Gill had received several awards and recognitions. Mission Raniganj, a biopic starring Bollywood actor Akshay Kumar, was based on Gill’s life and heroic deed. Gill had studied Mining Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology/ Indian School of Mines (IIT-ISM), an institute in Dhanbad (Jharkhand), between 1961 and 1965.

After a career spanning 33 years, he retired as Executive Director (safety and rescue) from Bharat Coking Coal Limited, Dhanbad, a subsidiary of Coal India Ltd.

He had been awarded the “Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak” by the then President of India in November 1991. Gill was also honoured as one of the top 550 Punjabis in the world by the state government on the 550th Gurpurab celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev in November 2019.

In recognition of his heroic act, a chowk on Majitha Road in Amritsar is named after him.