A fleet of military jets on Sunday carried out a spectacular fly-past as part of a nationwide exercise to express gratitude to lakhs of doctors, paramedics, sanitation staff and other front-line workers engaged in fighting the coronavirus pandemic.
In Delhi
The military jets, including Sukhoi-30 MKI, MiG-29 and Jaguar, flew over Rajpath, Delhi’s centrepiece boulevard, and then orbited over the city for around 30 minutes from 11 am.
Premier transport aircraft C-130 also carried out a separate fly-past covering the Delhi and the NCR region. The aircraft flew at an approximate height of 500 metres to 1000 metres keeping aerospace safety in mind.
Chief of Defence Staff Gen Bipin Rawat on Friday announced that the three services will carry out a series of activities to thank the “corona warriors“.
The thanks-giving activities started with laying of wreaths at the national police memorial in Delhi to honour the police personnel deployed in the enforcement of the nationwide lockdown, officials said.
Besides Delhi, the Indian Air Force is carrying out fly-pasts in several other cities including Mumbai, Jaipur, Ahmedabad, Guwahati, Patna and Lucknow, Srinagar, Chandigarh, Jaipur, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Coimbatore and Thiruvananthapuram, they said.
Helicopters from the IAF and the Indian Navy are also flying over hospitals treating coronavirus patients and shower petals as a tribute to the corona warriors.
Military bands are also playing “patriotic tunes” outside various civil hospitals treating coronavirus patients across the country.
The Eastern Naval Command and the Western Naval Command are illuminating a number of ships at anchorage from 7.30 pm to midnight.
Kerala
Flower petals were showered by an Indian Air Force helicopter on two hospitals here on Sunday in honour of the front-lineworkers fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
At around 10 am, the Sarang helicopter of the IAF flew past the Government Medical College Hospital and the General Hospital here as part the nation-wide initiative by the armed forces to honour doctors, paramedics, sanitation staff and other front-line workers battling coronavirus.
It hovered over a statue of ‘motherand child’ at the medical college hospital and moved towards the main entrance showering petals.
The lightweight chopper flew past over the hospital once again and left for the General Hospital to honour the COVID-19 warriors there.
A Defence release said the “Indian Coast Guard will honour the front-line workers by illuminating the Coast Guard Ships (Dress Overall) at Shangumugom Area on May 2 and 3 from 6.15 p.m to 8.30 p.m.”
Andhra Pradesh
Helicopters of the Indian Navy showered flowers on the main hospitals here as a mark of gratitude to the frontline health workers who were rendering yeoman service in the ongoing fight against the dreaded coronavirus pandemic.
The Naval choppers from the Eastern Naval Command here flew past the designated Covid-19 hospitals the state-run Chest and Communicable Diseases Hospital and the private Gitam Hospital on Sunday morning and showered flowers.
Doctors, nurses and paramedical staff lined up on the hospital premises and acknowledged the Defence forces gesture.
The ENC officers later felicitated the doctors and other medical staff in a thanksgiving gesture.
Tamil Nadu
Honouring the corona warriors, Defence forces on Sunday showered flower petals on four government hospitals treating the Covid-19 patients here.
Helicopters of the Indian Air Force (IAF) and the Indian Coast Guard (ICG) were deployed for this effort, undertaken by the country’s armed forces to express their gratitude to the front-line personnel involved in the battle against the deadly virus across the nation.
An IAF chopper strew flower petals on the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital and the Tamil Nadu Government Multi-Super Speciality Hospital at Omandurar Estate in the heart of the city.
Later, a Coast Guard helicopter carried out a similar activity honouring personnel at the Government Stanley Medical College and Kilpauk Medical College in the city.
The armed forces on Friday announced conducting fly- pasts, light up ships at sea, display military bands and shower flower petals on hospitals in a grand display of gratitude to lakhs of “corona warriors” like doctors, paramedics and police personnel.
One of the worst affected states in the country with 2,757 coronavirus cases as of Saturday, Tamil Nadu has deployed thousands of front-line workers including health professionals, police and sanitary workers among others in its fight against the pandemic.