Last Updated on July 30, 2022 at 5:10 pm
As Flight Lieutenant Advitiya Bal’s coffin arrived at his house in the Jinder Mehlu hamlet in the border area of R S Pura, a large crowd assembled to pay their last respects to the fighter pilot. Soon enough, chants for his long afterlife filled the air.
The village’s youth mourned the passing of their hero, a fighter pilot who came from this tiny hamlet, amid a gloomy environment. Bal’s lifeless body landed at Air Force post on a service aircraft. Air officer Commanding (AoC) Air Commodore G S Bhullar paid tributes to Bal in a ceremony at the IAF station.
The IAF cortege left the Jammu IAF station and travelled about a kilometre through a cavalcade of cars and motorcycles wearing the tricolour as they arrived at the martyr’s home to the sound of “Advitiya Amar Rahay.” Since early in the morning, people have gathered in front of the pilot’s house to say their final goodbyes and await the arrival of the coffin. At the sight of the casket, his family members couldn’t hold their tears.
According to authorities, Bal will be cremated at a location close to the hamlet with full military honours. Bal was one of the two Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots who died Thursday night near Barmer when their twin-seater MiG-21 trainer plane crashed on a training mission. The second pilot was Wing Commander M. Rana of Himachal Pradesh.
His death while piloting a “ailing” aircraft as opposed to “fighting adversaries” was lamented by his family. To ensure that no youth gets killed, they pleaded with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Defense Minister Rajnath Singh to quickly retire the whole fleet of outdated MiG-21 aircraft.
Bal was a “new age role model” for the village’s kids, according to the locals, who were also proud of his “martyrdom.” Sanjay Singh, a candidate for the National Defence Academy (NDA), the entry point for those seeking to join the armed services, claimed that Bal served as his inspiration and motivation.
