Tributes were paid to Goa Liberation War heroes — Major Shivdev Singh Sidhu and Captain Vijay Sehgal — by the SCD Govt. College, Ludhiana, who remembered their heroic sacrifice 64 years ago.
The college principal, Professor Dr Gursharanjit Sandhu, staff, students, and some alumni of the college paid their tributes. Present on the occasion were Brij Bhushan Goyal, the organising secretary of the alumni association, Prof. Narinder Singh Masson, Dr. G.S. Grewal, Prof. Parmjit Pam, Prof. Dr. Sourab, Prof Nidhi, Prof Jaspreet kaur, Prof Geetika, Bharpoor Singh, the college librarian, and a number of students.
While the Principal appreciated the gesture of the alumni, Goyal gave historical details about the stellar role of these martyrs. 1926, born in Sidhwan Khurd, Major Sidhu was a student of SCD Govt. College, in the early 1940s, and was one of the prominent ones to be selected in the college grounds then for training by the Army Selection Board amongst 6 boys.
Captain Sehgal studied in the early 1950s in the same college post-matriculation from the Arya School. But the destiny united these heroes of the college when the Goa Liberation Operation Vijay was announced in December 1961. Major Sidhu, along with his unit, left Varanasi on December 3, 1961. He was the squadron commander of Captain Vijay Kumar Seghal. Both these officers were at the forefront of releasing some Indians made hostage by the Portuguese, even after the surrender announcement. Indians had been liberated, but these officers had to lay down their lives when some Portuguese fired on them by deceit. A saintly temperament, Major Sidhu was often called a Sadhu Officer in his regiment, informed Goyal, quoting history.
Dr Grewal, who is the nephew of Major Sidhu, informed that he visited the place in Goa where a spacious Hall is built in memory of these heroes.
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