Road in Bengaluru to be Named After Nagrota Martyr Major Akshay

Major Akshay Girish, an officer with Indian Army’s 51 Engineer Regiment of the Bengal Sappers, lost his life in the Nagrota attack on 29 November 2016.

(Photo Courtesy: Meghana Girish)

A major road in west Bengaluru’s Yelahanka will be renamed after martyr Major Akshay Girish Kumar. The rechristened road will be inaugurated on Sunday, 16 December, on the commemoration day of India’s victory in the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War.

Major Akshay Girish, an officer with Indian Army’s 51 Engineer Regiment of the Bengal Sappers, lost his life during the attempt to neutralise terrorists, who attacked an Army unit at Nagrota in Jammu on 29 November 2016.

Major Akshay was a resident of Bengaluru. His family, who lives in Bengaluru will be part of the inauguration on Sunday. His mother Meghna Girish, in a tweet, said the road will be inaugurated on the commemoration day of the 1971 war in which Major Akshay’s grandfather had fought.

According to the BBMP, the 16th Cross Road stretch from 13th Main to Major Unnikrishnan Road in Yelahanka will be rechristened as Major Akshay Girish Kumar Road. The proposal was first approved in 30 August 2017. Since no objections were received to the proposal, the final decision was taken on by the BBMP on 19 February 2018.

The Nagrota Attack

Security personnel after an encounter with militants at an Army camp in Nagrota area of Jammu on Tuesday, 29 November 2016. (Photo: PTI)

An Indian Army base in Nagrota in Jammu and Kashmir was attacked by a group of militants on 26 December 2016. During the ensuing gun battle, 10 Indian soldiers, including three officers, including Major Akshay were martyred.

It was early in the morning when Major Akshay received information about terrorists entering the cantonment. He immediately led his quick response team to fight the gunmen and rescue the hostages during the course of which he was killed.

“On November 29th, we suddenly woke up at 5:30 am to the sound of gunshots. We thought it was training but there had not been any intimation,” wrote Major’s wife Sangeetha in a Facebok post, days after the attack.

“Soon even grenades went off. At around 5:45am, a junior came in to tell him that militants had taken the artillery regiment as hostage and he’d have to change to combat clothing. The last thing he said to me was ‘you must write about this,” read her post.

Struggle Against Government Empathy

When the family heard the news of Akshay’s death, their world turned upside down. Meghana took to writing a blog consisting of eleven episodes, solely about how things changed for the family after his death.

While the family was trying to move on, the authorities didn’t act on the proposal, even though it was cleared in 2017. The Major’s mother had then gone on the social media to the bring the authorities’ attention to the unfulfilled promise.

After the family’s persuasion the BBMP finally agreed to renaming the road in the army officer’s name.