Vanya Mishra who was declared Miss India World 2012 recently received the prestigious Kalpana Chawla Excellence Award 2012 from Kalpana Chawla’s father Sh Banarsi Lal Chawla at a Function organized on the forenoon of 6th May at Mavlankar Auditorium, New Delhi. The Function was organized by PECOBA (Punjab Engineering College Chandigarh Old Boys Association). Kalpana Chawla was an alumnus of this College and got her degree in aeronautical engineering in 1982 from this college. In all five women were honoured with this award.
Also awarded was Sushma Seth who is a veteran theatre artiste ( acted in 60 plays & directed 30 plays) as well as popular TV Serial artiste ( starting from “Humlog”, the first TV Serial of India) and film artiste (acted in over 100 films). Other awardees included Padmabhushan kuchipudi and bharatnatyam dancer Swapnasundari, the daring and honest IPS Officer Shalini Singh who had won the police medal for meritorious service in 2012 and popular bollywood jewllery designer Puneeta Trikha who designs and crafts each and every piece of jewelry herself without the help of any assistant.
Kalpana Chawla’s father Banarsi Lal Chawla narrated many interesting episodes about Kalpana which showed her love for environment and wildlife protection.
Amarjit Singh Kohli, the founder Gen Secy of PECOBA urged the Government to posthumously honour Kalpana Chawla with Bharat Ratna saying that astronaut Sunita Williams who came after Kalpana was decorated with Padma Vibhushan, but no award is given to Kalpana Chawla, even 9 years after her death..
A rare musical feature of tribute to Kalpana Chawla was presented by Cultural Society SAKHA entitled “Kalpana Ki Udan, Naari Ka Samman” produced and directed by Amarjit Singh Kohli who is Chairman Sakha and also Gen Secy, Pecoba. The programme was scripted and compered by Seema Verma and composed by Lovely Sharma
