A sea of humanity poured out on the streets of Noida this morning to bid farewell to Lt Vijayant Thapar, "hero of operation Vijay", who laid down his life, along with two other officers and 17 jawans, in the Dras sub- sector of Kargil on the night of june 28-29.Tens Of thousands of people-a majority of them unknown to the bereaved family -came out on the streets as the gun carriage carring the 22-year-old lieutenants body passed by. Some showered flowers and others shouted slogans-commending the young officers Bravery and decrying "the nefarious designs of Pakistan". The outpouring of grief and emotion was spontaneous. As the cortege left the Thapar sector-29 residence here a little after 10a.m., local citizens seemed to abandon all other activities to pay their last respect to the lad who according to them had written the name of Noida in the annals of Military history. Men left their offices and shops, laborers came out of their factories, women poured out of their homes and children out of schools. Even patients recuperating at a nursing home peeped out through the windows of their rooms to catch a glimpse of the soldier whose funeral brought Noida to a standstill. Those gathered outside their homes Distributed water to passers- by while those standing outside their commercials establishments offered flowers and wreaths as the carriage passes by. All commercial Establishments remained closed for the first half in the memory of Lt Thapar.The road leading to his house has been re-named after him. Among the days early visitors to Lt Thapars residence was the congress (I) President Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, who spend a few minutes with the family. The former union Minister, Mr. Rajesh pilot, accompanied her. The former youth congress (I) President Mr. M.S Bitta was present later at the cremation ground. A fourth generation Defence officer, Lt. Thapar was commissioned into Army Service corps in December last year. He was attached to two Rajputana Rifles And Kargil was his first posting. His Regiment had captured the tooling peak and was in the process of winning Knoll, three pimples and lone hill when he fell to a hail of bullets from the Pakistani infiltrators, Lt. Thapars father, colonel V.N Thapar, is a retired officer, re-instated into Jammu and Kashmir Light infantry.

When the cortege left the Thapar home, several thousand people had gathered to pay their tributes. as the procession wound its way down to sector -44-cremation ground, where the body was consined to the flames with full military honours,the number swelled to well over 50,000 --- bringing all activities to a standstill along the way. Policeman has a tough time while managing the traffic. The atmosphere was Palpably surcharged as people shouted slogans like, " Lt. Thapar Amar Rahe" "Jab tak suraj chand rahega, Vijyant tera nam rahega"and even "Pakistan hai, hai" and "Nawaj Shrarif murdabad". Over the cremation ground, all arrangements made by Rajputana Rifles went haywire as moumers poured into attend the last rites. They pulled down barricades and refused to desist from slogan shouting despite repeated quests by army personnel. His younger brother, Vijendra Thapar, who has also given the National Defence Academy Examination, lighted Lt. Thapar's pyre. Lt. Thapar's parents and grandmother put up a brave face throughout, as if telling those present that when you go back home, tell everyone that our son sacrificed his today for your tomorrow ----