Thanjai youth, recipient of Anna Award, wins Centre’s Jeevan Raksha Padak

The award was handed over to Sridhar, the youth, by Chief Minister Edappdi K Palaniswami in Chennai on Monday.

R Sridhar (22), a BTech graduate, who has been helping his father Radhakrishnan in agriculture in the field, which belongs to their family, located at Melayur village near Orathanadu. It is said that after completing graduation, Sridhar was not interested in going to any office job instead wanted to take up agricultural activities.

In 2018, while Sridhar was on the way to their field for routine work, he found six persons - two women and four children, struggling for life in the Vellayan lake. Wasting no time, Sridhar jumped into the lake and pulled one by one to safety and managed to rescue all the six.

Despite having no proper swimming experience, Sridhar did not have a second thought in jumping into the late and saving the lives of all the six. Locals and those in the vicinity praised the instant and brave action of Sridhar. As news about his valour spread, the district administration recommended his name for an award. Following this, the state government chose him for the Anna Award in 2019 appreciating his brave act.

Chief Minister Palaniswami handed over the award during the Republic day celebrations. The state also recommended Sridhar for the Jeevan Raksha Padak- the bravery award for civilians and the President of India accredited the recommendation and declared the award to Sridhar. On Monday, Sridhar received the President’s award from the Chief Minister.