C Ramachandran

Biography

Havildar C Ramachandran served with the 18 Engineering Regiment of the Corps of Engineers, one of the oldest arms of the Indian Army, tracing its origins to the Madras Sappers raised in 1780. His unit specialised in the construction of bridges and tracks, and was equipped with the men and material required for such demanding tasks. In 2005 the regiment, based at Chandimandir in Punjab, was tasked with rebuilding four bridges in the upper Kinnaur region of Himachal Pradesh that had been washed away in the flooding of the Parechu lake. These bridges were vital lifelines connecting remote areas of the Kinnaur and Lahaul-Spiti districts along the Hindustan-Tibet Road. In September 2005 his team was assigned the reconstruction of the bridge at Kharo on National Highway 22. On 8 September 2005, under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Amardeep Singh, Havildar Ramachandran and forty other soldiers began the operation. After the bridge was successfully launched, the men were laying wooden slabs over its 60-metre iron beams when it suddenly collapsed at the centre, likely due to a technical failure, plunging the soldiers into the Sutlej river. Havildar C Ramachandran laid down his life in the line of duty.