Akshay Kumar's latest movie, "Mission Raniganj: The Great Bharat Rescue," has premiered on OTT. Directed by Tinu Suresh Desai, the film features Akshay Kumar in the role of Jaswant Singh Gill, a mining engineer who led the heroic rescue of 65 miners trapped in a flooded coal field in Raniganj, West Bengal, back in 1989. The movie is based on a true incident, depicting Kumar's portrayal of Gill's leadership during the two-day ordeal when the coal mine faced a flood, leaving numerous miners stranded.?
After the movie was released in theaters and OTT, many naturally wondered about the true story behind the movie. Here's all you need to know about Amritsar-based engineer Jaswant Singh Gill who is known around the world for his heroic efforts that saved the lives of 65 people!
Born on November 22, 1937, Jaswant Gill was a resident of Punjab's Sathiala in Amritsar. Gill studied at the famous Khalsa College in Amritsar and graduated in 1959.
Mr Gill, who died on November 26, 2019, had played a significant role in the rescue work of miners that got trapped inside a flooded coal mine in Raniganj of West Bengal in 1989.
He thought of making a steel capsule to use it for rescuing the miners trapped in the dead hole. The steel capsule was constructed in 72 hours and after a few trial runs up and down the borehole, rescue of men began on November 16 at 2.30 am. Gill insisted on going into the capsule himself to bring out the trapped men.
A braveheart, Mr Gill is remembered for saving the lives of 64 people who were trapped in a flooded coal mine in the Indian state of West Bengal in 1989.
On November 23, 1989, 220 miners at a coal mine in Raniganj in West Bengal were doing their everyday job of breaking coal walls by triggering blasts. During that time West Bengal was heavily flooded and someone accidentally touched the upper seam of the mine and water gushed in. Many workers managed to evacuate the mine in two lifts but 71 miners remained trapped as the shafts were filled with water. In the incident, six people drowned and 65 stayed trapped.
At that time Jaswant Singh Gill was the additional chief mining engineer of the mine. When he came to know about this tragedy and that 65 people’s lives were at risk, Mr Gill, without a second thought, headed into the borewell and rescued the miners all by himself.
Jaswant Gill planned the whole rescue operation himself and came up with the idea of making a steel capsule that could carry one person at a time through the borewell.
During the whole course of the rescue operation, Jaswant Singh Gill was in the pit himself rescuing the workers. He only came out after everyone was rescued and it took six hours to do so.
This act of bravery made Jaswant Singh Gill a national hero and he was awarded the Sarvottam Jeevan Raksha Padak' by then-President Of India?Ramaswamy Venkataraman in 1991. A chowk on the Majitha Road in Punjab was also named after him.?
A true hero!
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