The first 'tri-colour' atop Everest remembered

Fifty years ago, Tenzing Norgay had received Indian tri-colour from a friend to plant it atop Mt Everest.

Fifty years ago, Tenzing Norgay who was preparing to scale Mount Everest with Sir Edmund Hillary, received the Indian tri-colour from a friend to plant atop the world's highest peak should he reach there.

HT Image

Fifty years later, as the world celebrated the Golden Jubilee of the historic expedition in which Tenzing and Hillary became the first men to scale the peak, the man remembered how he had hurriedly got hold of the tri-colour.

"I had spent one rupee for the flag at that time," recalled Tenzing Norgay's friend Rabi Mitra at a felicitation function commemorating the great human feat of the conquest of the world's highest mountain.

The statue of Tenzing Norgay was garlanded on the occasion.

Inaugurating the celebration, West Bengal Minister for Municipal Affairs and Urban Development, Asok Bhattacharjee said Tenzing had made the country proud.

He urged the new generation to take lessons from the strong determination from Tenzing.

Besides Mitra, noted naturalist Jagadish Biswas was also honoured.

As the chairman of Siliguri-Jalpaiguri Development Authority (SJDA), Bhattacharjee announced an annual Award for the best performing nature and adventure sports clubs of North Bengal. The award would comprise Rs 15,000 cash, a memento and citation.