IAF Tribute to Coronavirus Warriors

New Delhi, May 3 (IANS) The Indian Air Force (IAF) jets and transport planes across India on Sunday showered petals on hospitals and places of national importance to show honour and express their gratitude towards the coronavirus warriors who are battling the pandemic.

It was part of the nationwide thanksgiving effort by the armed forces to honour doctors, paramedics, sanitation staff, police and other front-line workers battling coronavirus in the country.

The IAF choppers and jets, including Mig-29, Sukhoi-30 and Jaguar, conducted flypasts and Army bands played patriotic tunes outside medical buildings in most districts across the country from east to west and north to south.

The armed forces showered petals at various locations, including:

• Goa Medical College
• SNM Hospital in Leh
• Jaipur in Rajasthan
• Rajpath and Police Memorial in Delhi
• Sukhna Lake in Chandigarh
• Srinagar's Dal Lake
• Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh
• Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh
• Panchkula Hospitals in Haryana
• Kalinga Institute of Medical Sciences in Bhubaneswar

In Mumbai, military aircraft dropped petals at the King Edward Memorial (KEM) Hospital and Kasturba Gandhi Hospital, among others. The IAF choppers showered flower petals on the Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital in Chennai to pay tribute to healthcare workers fighting the Covid-19 pandemic.

This was the third major display of gratitude to health workers across the country, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's request to countrymen to clap, ring bells and beat utensils to support the Covid-19 warriors from their balconies, and later by people switching off their lights and lighting candles and diyas.

The medical fraternity and other corona warriors were seen assembled outside the COVID-19 hospitals and other government buildings putting hands on their chest to show honour to the respect to the efforts of Armed forces.

The gesture of thanks started with the laying of flowers by the three service chiefs at the police memorial in Delhi in the morning to honour police personnel deployed for enforcement of the nationwide lockdown.

Sukhoi-30 MKI, MiG-29 and Jaguars, Chetak did a flypast over Rajpath and orbited over Delhi and showered petals over the India Gate and Red Fort. Besides, C-130 transport aircraft followed a similar route. The aircraft flew at an approximate height of 500 meters to 1,000 meters.

The IAF fighter jets from the Western Air Command dropped petals at Delhi's Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Rajiv Gandhi Super Speciality Hospital and Deen Dayal Upadhyay Hospital.

The gratitude gesture was expressed at a time when 1,301 people have died and nearly 40,000 are infected with the deadly novel coronavirus or COVID-19 pandemic across the country.