IT indeed was a tough start for the newly married couple. A young Lieutenant Rajesh Kulkarni and his wife Aarti from Nagpur had reached the Old Airfield Cantonment in Srinagar in April 1999. On May 20, the man in uniform with 108 Engineer Regiment, was asked to move to affiliated brigade location in 24 hours. What was supposed to be an engineer task of ‘some track construction’ gradually unfolded into an almost year-long assignment covering the days of the Kargil War and the aftermath. “It was indeed a tough start for us. But, it gave an enriching exposure to me as a soldier, as an engineer, and made me what I am today,” recalls Col Rajesh Kulkarni while interacting with ‘The Hitavada’. Son of (late) Vinod and Mrudula Kulkarni from Nagpur, he is currently posted at Srinagar. He is one of the only two Engineers officers of the Indian Army to have got Sena Medal (gallantry) for Kargil War. For, he not only completed the tasks of the engineer but also participated in action with infantry soldiers. He lived up to the motto ‘108, Shatrunaash’ every moment during the thick of the Kargil War.

 

For the Sena Medal, he was considered owing to his active role in three attacks -- attack on Pt 5140, Lone Hill and Three Pimples, and Bunker Ridge in Sando Valley. As assigned in May 1999, the young officer and his team reached Matayen after crossing the arduous stretch of Zojila. By evening, they reached short of Drass, established their camp. They were briefed that some militants had infiltrated and had occupied heights surrounding Drass. The infantry was tasked to flush them out, and the engineers’ task was to repair a broken wooden bridge on Tololing nullah. The bridge was to be used by troops to advance towards Tololing. Since the material was not available, they had to uproot the wooden obstacles at brigade location overnight and repair the bridge in morning. On May 22, when the team was crossing Communication Hill on reaching Drass, their vehicle came under artillery and mortar fire from the enemy.

 

When it stopped, they proceeded to the location for repair of wooden bridge, but had to fall back as a company of Naga Regiment was falling back after an ambush at the same location. Gradually, it became clear that there was a well-planned infiltration all across the Line of Control (LOC) starting from Mushkoh Valley right up to Turtuk Sector. Building of forces started, and the company of which Lt Rajesh Kulkarni was part of, was tasked to convert a foot track into a mule track leading to administrative base created by 18 Grenadiers on the spur leading to Tololing. “We established our camp near Bimbat base in snow tents and everyday, we would start early in the morning, and inch towards our objective. Due to heavy artillery and mortar fire, we could not progress as per timeline. At night, enemy artillery would open up anytime and we had to run for cover behind the big boulders, for a while. Our work was challenging indeed,” he says.

 

The Regiment was given several tasks and it performed each one with determination, irrespective of the rough terrain, adverse weather, and hostile conditions. “During a confirmatory reconnaisance for construction of a track towards Bimbat, we completed it by crossing very cold waters of Thasgam nullah a number of times,” says Col Kulkarni. His team was tasked to construct an ad-hoc helipad at Tololing base. The materials were ‘uprooted’ and sent from old air-field, and the helipad was constructed overnight before the attack on Tololing. By the first week of June 1999, the brigade was ready to undertake operations and the first feature to be recaptured was Tololing. After successful recapture of Tololing, the engineers were to sanitise the heights from mines and booby traps. With emotions palpable in his voice, Col Kulkarni recalls that the body of Maj Rajesh Adhikari lying on the slope since May 30 was found but had to be recovered safely. “The enemy had rigged the body with mines to increase our casualties during recovery. We had to do it very carefully,” he adds. The next task was to clear the mined area and provide a safe axis for launch of attack on Pt 5140. At Tololing, the entire rocky area was rigged by the enemy with anti-personnel mines including snow mines placed under the small boulders.

 

There were some improvised explosive devices made out of jam tins filled with explosives and charged with detonators, placed in series in front of sangars (temporary structures made of stones). The engineers discharged their duty of sanitising the area and making it safe. Tololing was made administrative base for attack on Pt 5140. The engineers bravely marked ‘H’ with ‘atta’ (flour) in the shadow of Tololing to guide helicopters for evacuation since landing was not feasible because of continuous fire from positions held by enemy.

 

When Pt 5140 was taken successfully, the engineers go into mopping-up operations, clearing the bunkers. In case of Lone Hill and Three Pimples too, the engineers were tasked with marking of helipad, participating in attack on June 28, and mopping-up operations following capture. Similar task was performed by Lt Rajesh Kulkarni’s team in case of Bunker Ridge in Sando Valley. “During clearing the area post capture, I picked up a bell-shaped sparkling object. Havildar Amrik immediately snatched it from me and threw it down the slope. It was a bomblet of own artillery ammunition, which blasted just a few meters away. We were saved because of slope,” he says, with eyes fixated in air as if replaying the incident in his mind. On July 26, 1999, ceasefire was declared and the enemy started vacating the posts/heights that they had occupied. Many of the soldiers returned home, relieving their families of the tense moments. But, was he able to go home with the end of war?