A day after the conclusion of one of the biggest rescue missions in the country at Trikut Hills in Jharkhand’s Deoghar district which went on for over 40 hours, the local district administration on Wednesday felicitated a middle-aged local villager identified as Panan Panjariya for his unmatchable grit and contribution in the entire mission.

Even before the district administration and NDRF reached the Trikut hills after ropeway mishap at the tourist spot on Sunday evening, Panan, known as Pannalal among his peers, had swung into action with handful of co-villagers, to rescue stranded tourists. By the time, the specialized teams from Indian Air Force, Army, ITBP and others reached the mishap site on Monday morning, he had saved four tourists through desi-jugad—reaching some of the stranded cabin cars through alternate (service) ropeway line manually with the help of long ropes.Deputy commissioner Manjunath Bhajantri in the evening today presented him memento and a cheque of Rs 1 lakh in presence of chief minister Hemant Soren who joined the proceedings through virtual mode.

Bhajantri said, “Pannalal was the first responder in that crisis situation and he held ground irrespective of harsh weather conditions, life threatening risk and other odds till the entire rescue mission was over on Tuesday. In totality, he alone saved 11 persons between Sunday night and morning. He acted as our true Jharkhandi commando.”

Pannalal said that he worked as service worker at the ropeway site since 2009 and it was the first time that such mishap occurred, which none had ever anticipated. Recalling the incident, he said that at about 4.30pm, there was a sudden jerk in one of the cabins. “The operator sensed something unusual and stopped the ropeway. Restarting it was proving to be risky. For long time, no one could understand what happened, but I got a sense that something dangerous has happened,” he said.

He added that hearing cries of tourists, he couldn’t resist himself and with the help of some co-villagers managed ropes and safety clips to try and reach to the nearest cabins manually. “I hung myself using rope through alternative ropeway along with a chair to bring tourists. From the nearest cabin, we could save four people initially. There were two kids too,” he recalled.

He spent whole night at the site trying to arrange water and food for the stranded tourists through ropes. “Next day, there was relief when helicopters reached. But due to dangerous topography, helicopters couldn’t begin airlifting due to fear of crash. I volunteered to descend on the cabin through chopper to take out the tourists. My initial act emboldened the rescue teams and commandos to intensify the rescue,” he said, thanking the all those involved in the rescue mission to save 45 out of 48 stranded tourists. “I am happy to have contributed in someway or the other to the society,” he said.

Soren on the other hand hailed Pannalal as a fitting example of courage and humanity. “We will write to union government too to recognize your contributions. Entire Jharkhand is proud of you today,” he said.