india

Updated: Feb 14, 2020 17:53 IST

On the day the nation paid its tribute to the CRPF jawans who were killed in a terrorist attack in Pulwama, an autorickshaw driver in Odisha’s Koenjhar district gave a unique tribute to the jawans by offering free rides to passengers.

Narendra Kumar of Anandpur town in Keonjhar district started free auto ride for passengers in the area to remind people about the jawans who lost their lives in the terrorist attack.

“Terrorists from Pakistan had killed 40 CRPF jawans and injured another 20 on February 13 last year. The free auto service is my small tribute to the jawans,” said Kumar, who is the president of the local auto association.

“Passengers can avail the free ride from Anandpur Bazaar to Ghasipura medical and Uttareshwar temple to Jhadeswar temple on to and fro basis,” he said. The service will be available till February 16 between 7 am and 5 pm.

Sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik also paid tribute to the deceased jawans through his sand art at Puri beach in Odisha. Pattnaik took to Twitter and posted a picture of his sand art and wrote “Jai Hind”.

Around 40 CRPF personnel were killed when their convoy was targeted by the suicide bomber of Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on February 14, 2019.

Among the 40 jawans killed in the attack, Prasanna Kumar Sahoo and Manoj Behera were from Odisha.

Tensions flared up between India and Pakistan after the attack. Leaders across the party lines condemned the attack and called for an appropriate response.

The response came in the form of the unprecedented air action against the Jaish-e-Mohammed’s facility at Balakot.

United Nations and several countries from across the globe condemned the Pulwama terror attack and extended their support to India in the fight against terrorism.