Gagni Porwal (centre) seen with Lt Gen. R.K. Chhabra (to her right) Lt Gen. R.K. Chhabra releases the handbook at the Gajraj Corps headquarters on Tuesday

Gagni Porwal has emerged as the crowning glory of Tezpur Cantonment. She has done her school, Army School, Tezpur, proud by securing 93.4 per cent in her Class X board exam held under the CBSE this year.

This is the highest aggregate score achieved by any child, at least in Sonitpur district. Daughter of S.S. Porwal, chief engineer of Project Vartak, Gagni takes a keen interest in extra-curricular activities, singing and dancing.

She was adjudged Miss Army School in a beauty contest held recently.

Gagni has also participated in debates and symposiums. She was conferred the first prize in the Maggi Quiz competition held in Tezpur. Gagni admits that she draws inspiration from her father and says that society is incomplete if men and women do not complement each other.

She says, ?Life is short so one should try to enjoy it and utilise it to the fullest.?

Besides Gagni, three others have obtained more than 90 per cent marks in the aggregate.

They are ? Prasun Biswas (93 per cent), Akshat Tyagi (90.8 per cent) and Padmini Raghav (90.6 per cent).

In fact, Army School, Tezpur has earned the distinction of achieving 100 per cent success in the Board exams with 98 per cent of its students securing a first division.

Shopping

Lt Gen. R.K. Chhabra, GOC, 4 Corps, inaugurated the Gajraj shopping complex, which was recently renovated, near Mission Charali on Tuesday. The shopping arcade is flanked by the auditorium on one side and Chandpur officer?s enclave on the other.

The Gajraj Shopping complex has canteen facilities, a grocery, bakery, a tailor?s shop, beauty parlour and stationery shop, a general provisions store, a phone booth and cyber caf?. Gen. Chhabra said, ?Our prime objective is to provide quality goods with a definite price advantage to our defence personnel, thus maintaining a high morale and consumer satisfaction at the optimum level.?

Despite VAT, there exists a substantial price advantage for defence personnel. Earlier, a part of the shopping complex was located inside the 4 Corps headquarters, which could be visited by serving and retired defence personnel but not their family members. The decision to bring all shops under one roof has been taken by the GOC to separate the shopping complex from the high security zone Corps headquarters. Now family members and all entitled persons can visit the shopping complex.

Hall for all

The Red Horns Artillery brigade has built a Rs 8- lakh community hall for the locals of Hazarikapara under Mangaldoi sub-division in Darrang district. Maj. Gen. A.M. Verma, GOC, Red Horns Division, handed over the hall to Hazarikapara in a glittering ceremony in the presence of Brig. P.C. Mathur, Commander, Red Horns Artillery Brigade, S.K. Nath, deputy commissioner of Darrang and Rounak Ali Hazarika, SP, Darrang.

Maj. Gen. A.M. Verma, while inaugurating the community hall, said the army would assist the people of Assam in attaining peace, progress and prosperity. He expressed the hope that the hall would be utilised for development of the area and in boosting communal harmony.

A call in time

Zimithang, a remote and isolated mountainous region, witnessed unprecedented rainfall in the first week of this month. This caused heavy accumulation of water in various lakes lying north of the region.

A heavy volume of water was released from Wangdong Tso, resulting in a flash flood in the Yum Kang rivulet. Alert sentries of Rajput detachment at Bap Teng Kang (BTK) sprang into action immediately and raised an alarm to alert civilians and army personnel in the region. Thus a major disaster was averted.

Civilians were moved to safer places with the help of army personnel.

The flash flood swept away houses, animals and army barracks. The Mountain Brigade Sector located in Tawang swung into action under the command of Brig. Abhay Kumar.

A joint action group was established which organised immediate relief and rescue operations. A team led by Maj. Pranab Kumar and Capt. Avinash Kumar, medical officer, established a relief camp to provide drinking water, food, medicines, clothing and other essential commodities to the victims.

The group rescued 39 men, 25 women and 30 children and helped shift their belongings to safer places. The army?s role in this commendable job was highly appreciated by the villagers and civil administration.

An ?Interactive Community Participatory Malaria Awareness Campaign? was conducted at Missamari Mil Station recently.

Over 500 men in uniform as well as large numbers of families, including children, were benefited by the simple audio-visual presentation.

The effect was felt by the type of questions being generated and doubts that cropped up. A physical demonstration on all types of anti-malaria chemicals and their usage was a crowd-puller.

However, the star attraction was live samples of the mosquito?s life-cycle. For centuries, the northeastern states have been known to be a major breeding ground of malaria.

Among these, Assam is reported to be the most affected state. A rapid increase in malaria cases has been observed.

A handbook on preventative maintenance was released by Lt Gen. R.K. Chhabra, GOC, 4 Corps in the presence of senior officials of Gajraj Corps.

The handbook has been compiled to highlight various facets of preventive maintenance for the new generation weapons system and equipment, which have been inducted in the army. This book will prove beneficial for troops handling the equipment.