The Punjab government on Monday decided to regularise services of contractual state roadways bus driver Nanak Chand for saving 76 lives during the recent Gurdaspur terror attack, whose name will also be recommended for national bravery award.

Mr Chand had earlier requested the government to regularise his job so that he could sustain his family of six as he earns a paltry amount of Rs 5,000 per month.

The decision was taken under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal at a meeting of the Punjab Cabinet.

The Cabinet also decided to regularise contractual services of the bus conductor, Birender Kumar, who also played a key role in saving lives, on the day of the attack.

47-year-old Chand will be given a cash award of Rs 3 lakh and honoured with a state award on the Independence Day function, an official spokesman said here.

His name will also be recommended to the Union government for the National Bravery Award, the spokesperson said. Mr Chand expressed happiness over the government’s decision and expressed gratitude for regularising their services.

“I want to thank the government,” Mr Chand said, who hails from Samrala village in Pathankot district.

He was appointed on a contract basis in 2010 and joined the state roadways in 2011.

Mr Chand said that he had met Chief Minister Badal last week with a request to regularise his job and that of Birender Kumar.

“I work on contract basis with Punjab Roadways. I get anywhere between Rs 5,000—Rs 6,000 each month. I have to support a large family that includes my wife, my school going children — a daughter (17), two sons (20) and (13) — and my mother,” he said.

Narrating the sequence of events that unfolded on the day in Dinanagar town, Chand said, “The day was like any other day. I was on duty early morning. The bus was on its way from Janian, a village falling along the Punjab-J&K border. We started at 3:40 am and our final destination was ISBT, Sector 43 in Chandigarh. From Janian, we cross 60-70 border villages to reach Dinanagar town, which is 60 km“.

“At about 5:30 AM, we reached Dinanagar bus stand and I stopped the vehicle briefly. The bus was carrying about 76 passengers including school children, daily passengers and some policemen who were travelling to different destinations for their duty.

Around 5:31 am, the bus left Dinanagar stand and at 5:34 am, it reached close to Dinanagar police station.

“From a distance, I saw a white colour Maruti car and one masked person near the car. As the bus reached closer to him, he tried to stop it by waving his hand. Immediately, I suspected that something was fishy. “My conductor Birender Kumar also alerted me. He also shouted don’t stop the bus. As I tried to accelerate, the masked person fired volley of bullets at the bus. I accelerated and covered the next 15 km to Gurdaspur in less than 15 minutes,” he said.

“As two of my passengers had sustained bullet injuries, I drove them straight to Civil hospital at Gurdaspur where we got them admitted to the Emergency ward,” Mr Chand said. - PTI