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On Republic Day the President recognised the daring rescue of 41 workers trapped in a tunnel for 17 days in 2023 by humble rat-hole miners.
The award hopefully will bring the forgotten superheroes back into the light.
Vaqeel Hasan, the leader of the team of rat-hole miners, discovered that his team had been awarded medals by the President of India through the newspaper on Republic Day.
The 12-member team was awarded the Sarvottam Jeevan Rakshak Padak on Republic Day for rescuing 41 tunnel workers trapped for 17 days in Uttarkashi, November 2023.
These men had risked their lives when both foreign and national technology had failed and conducted a daring rescue mission that had gripped the nation.
"I do not know any details about when this medal will be given to us, where and by whom," says Vaqeel Hasan, leader of the team that had worked non-stop for 27 hours achieving an incredible task.
The Sarvottam Jeevan Rakshak Pada consists of a medal, a certificate signed by the Union home minister and a lump sum monetary allowance which will be presented to the awardee by their respective state governments.
Celebrated as heroes, the men were invited on television shows and felicitated by society, but had since been forgotten.
They received a monetary reward of Rs 50,000 each from the Uttarakhand government. "At that time they were willing to give us anything. Many promises were made by the state government, but nobody looked back at us after the rescue," says Vaqeel who was back in the news last year when his home was demolished in an anti-encroachment drive by the Delhi Development Authority.
"The local MP, the BJP's Manoj Tiwari and LG (Delhi's lieutenant governor) had said what had happened was wrong and that I will get a house under the PM's scheme, but nothing has happened so far," he says.
Vaqeel Hasan has been living in a rented house with his wife and three children which costs Rs 7,000 per month, and earns a living running a shop of mobile accessories.
The other men who were part of the team have been working as labourers laying pipelines in Faridabad, auto drivers, kabadiwalas and doing odd jobs.
Some have returned to their home in Kasganj or Bulandshahr in UP.
"We don't want money for the rescue, but the government should have supported us by providing us some permanent jobs. This would have helped us build our lives," says Vaqeel Hasan.
"We have got a bag full of medals and certificates which is accumulating dust and fungus. They are of no use to us."
"Awards cannot fill our stomachs and provide a livelihood," he says in a dejected voice. Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav provided Rs 1 lakh each and some social organisations, he says, gave them Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000.
"Government employees who carry out life-saving missions are given so much support, why not us? Haven't we also served our beloved country and saved lives risking our own when all hope was lost?"
"Politicians -- AAP, BJP, Congress -- are all the same. There is no hearing for the poor," he says.
"This rescue has taken away far more than it has given us. When we go looking for work at construction sites, they laugh and say, 'You are superheroes, why are you asking work as earth diggers and labourers!'"
"People call us superheroes, but we are the forgotten superheroes."
Better late than never, hopefully, the President's award will bring them better opportunities.
The 12 members awarded the Sarvottam Jeevan Rakshak Padak by the President:
Vaqeel Hassan
Munna Qureshi
Ankur Kumar
Monu Kumar
Devendra
Mohmmed Rashid
Firoz Qureshi
Jatin Kashyap
Saurabh Kashyap
Mohmmed Irshad
Nasruddin
Naseem