Vizag girl bags the prestigious Jeevan Raksha Padak award

Making Vizag proud yet again, Kalagarla Sahithi, of Kothakota village near Narsipatnam, has been honoured with the prestigious Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak award. On Monday, President Ram Nath Kovind approved the conferring of Jeevan Raksha Padak awards to 40 people for meritorious acts of saving lives.

When Sahithi was around 8 years, she had learnt swimming at Anakapalli. Adept at performing yoga asanas while floating on the water, the sixteen-year-old has set as many as 32 world records by taking part in various swimming competitions. In November 2018, 20 school-children were taken to the Revu Polavaram Beach. As fate would have it, Sahithi had also gone for a picnic to the same beach along with her family members. After lunch, some of the children went to take a dip in the sea. Sahithi noticed that two of the students were drifting deep into the sea. Risking her life, the youngster jumped and rescued them to safety. The Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak awardee is currently studying Intermediate at Narsipatnam in Vizag district.

The Jeevan Raksha Padak series of awards are given in three categories namely Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak award, Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak award, and Jeevan Raksha Padak award. According to a Home Ministry statement, Muhammed Muhsin of Kerala will be honoured with the Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak posthumously. Uttam Jeevan Raksha Padak will be conferred to eight persons and Jeevan Raksha Padak to 31 others. Persons from all walks of life are eligible for these awards, given for meritorious acts of human nature in saving the life of a person, the statement said.

It may be recalled that Ameya Lagudu, a twelve-year-old from Vizag, currently studying in Sri Satya Sai Vidya Vihar, was honoured

with the prestigious Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar award for 2021. The twelve-year-old from Vizag was conferred with the Pradhan Mantri Rashtriya Bal Puraskar award for her exceptional achievements in the field of Art and Culture.