Recently a number of artists were awarded in Kalpna Chawla Excellence Awards, in memory of this Sikh astronaut.
The Amritsar-based Awardees namely legendary Punjabi Folk Singer Gurmeet Bawa, veteran theatre artiste Jatinder Kaur and comedian Bharti Singh (Laughter Challenge fame) were invited to Amritsar today at attend a Function organised by Amritsar Chapter of Punjab Engineering College Chandigarh Old Boys Association (PECOBA).
In a rare gesture Pecoba had posthumously honoured late Manveen Sandhu of Amritsar for her outstanding contributions in the field of creative and performing arts & preserving heritage of Punjab. Ms Baljeet Johal who was present on her behalf said “She was the epitome of excellence in all fields that she touched”. Kuldip Kaur, the sister of Amritsar-based Judo champion Ranjeet Kaur also attended the Function.
Amarjit Singh Kohli, General Secretary of Pecoba who had founded Pecoba in 1967 said that was a matter of pride for the city of Amritsar that out of 10 awardees honoured by Kalpana Chawla’s father Sh Banarsi Lal Chawla at the 6th Annual Kalpana Chawla Excellence Awards Function organised earlier by PECOBA on 1st February, 2009 in Chandigarh five belonged to the city of Amritsar.
On this occasion the Amritsar Chapter of PECOBA was formally launched for the first time in Amritsar. Er Jaspal Singh, the convener of Amritsar Chapter said that idea of Amritsar Chapter had been pending for decades but when we realized that Amritsar Women had stolen the march over all cities of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal, Chandigarh & had virtually swept the KC Awards instituted by PECOBA, we decided to immediately form a Amritsar Chapter & honour them. He was grateful to his senior Er Surinder Handa for the guidance provided.
Legendary folk song singer Gurmeet Bawa launched the website of PECOBA namely www.pecoba.in.
The Amritsar-based website designer Er Bhupinder Pal Singh who is also an alumnus of Punjab Engineering Chandigarh, said that it was a privilege for him & a matter of pride for the city of Amritsar that he, an Amritsarian, was chosen to design the website of PECOBA which will now be watched by thousands of PEC Alumni all over the world. He hoped that the website would be as long-lasting & popular as the launcher Gurmeet Bawa.