Marking the 92nd birth anniversary of late President APJ Abdul Kalam, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) chairman S. Somanath paid rich tributes at the memorial and also participated in a few events jointly organised by the Ramanathapuram district administration and Kalam Foundation in Ramanathapuram on October 15.
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The Kalam Foundation had organised special prayers in which the ISRO chairman, District Collector B Vishnu Chandran, MP K. Nawaz Kani and other dignitaries participated in Peikarumbu — the place of the memorial. The dignitaries also garlanded the statue of Dr. Kalam.
Later, in the morning, a marathon was organised in two categories — 21 km and 5 km for men and women.
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The winners — Lakshmanan of Pudukottai was given ₹50,000, Vinod Kumar of Nilgiris got second prize of ₹25,000 and Rengaraj of Nilgiris bagged third place with ₹10,000.
In the women’s category (21 km), the first prize was bagged by Suganya of Peravoorani with ₹50,000, Vijaya Vaishnavi (second place with ₹25,000) and Mano Mani of Ramanathapuram bagged ₹10,000 in third place, the organisers said and added that prizes were given to the winners in the 5-km marathon also.
The ISRO Chairman went around an exhibition organised by the school students on robotics and STEM and others. He interacted with the participants and appreciated their interest and knowledge on science and mathematics..
In a brief chat with media persons, Mr. Somanath said that he was happy to be a part of Kalam’s family members on the occasion of the 92nd birth anniversary. “I don’t have much to say about Mr Kalam as we all have been influenced by him in some way or the other in our lives. We should take forward the contributions of Kalam. I was highly impressed by the exhibition organised by the school children from different parts of the country...” he noted.