Ranchi, June 29: Bhakhra, a non-descript village about 220km from Ranchi in remote Satgawan block of Koderma district, today bid final farewell to its hero Santosh Kumar Paswan.

The body of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) soldier, who died in the chopper crash during rescue operations in flood-ravaged Uttarakhand on Tuesday, was brought to the village in a Tricolour-wrapped coffin this morning.

“About 50-60 jawans from NDRF arrived with the constable’s body, which first came to Patna via air and from there to Satgawan via road. He was given a gun salute in the presence of 5,000-odd villagers,” said Anup Kumar, a resident of Koderma.

Koderma deputy commissioner Umashankar Singh and district board chairman Mahesh Rai among others were present.

The shattered family members of the Mi-17 V5 crash victim, who got married just last year, hailed him as a martyr. “Mujhe uske shahadat par garv hai (I am proud of his martyrdom),” said Paswan’s father Deo Narayan Paswan in a murmur as he put up a brave face during the last rites.

Notably, an ITBP team from New Delhi had visited Satgawan on Thursday to collect blood samples from Paswan’s parents. Koderma SP Hemant Toppo had said that since the bodies recovered could not be identified, blood samples were being collected to facilitate DNA profiling.

As condolence messages continued to pour in, former chief minister Arjun Munda today announced that the BJP would offer Rs 5 crore to Paswan’s family, whom he described as a “brave soldier”.

Meanwhile, corporate houses of Jharkhand are also lending a helping hand in rescue and relief work in Uttarakhand.

Adhunik Group has been working in tandem with the seven-member rescue team that was sent to the calamity zone. The group’s DGM (corporate communication) Anand Kumar said a 27-member team was stationed in disaster-affected areas. Besides, they have set up two relief camps at Rishikesh and Jolly Grant airport near Dehradun. A third will come up at Kedarnath tomorrow.

“More than 300 pilgrims from Jharkhand received relief at these camps. Free rail tickets, Rs 1,000 in cash per family, medicines, food, drinking water, clothes, matchboxes, torches etc were provided to them,” Kumar said.

Altogether 3,387 employees of Adhunik Group have donated their one-day salary to the relief fund.

Congress MP Naveen Jindal-owned Jindal Steel and Power Limited is also helping stranded pilgrims by removing them to safer places. The company has been operating two relief flights from Dehradun to Delhi.

Meanwhile, Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha, Ranchi, today donated Rs 1 lakh for the victims.