New Delhi: The prestigious defence award “Ayudha Bhushan”, which is equivalent to the third highest civilian award Padma Bhushan, will be given to Gogineni Sujatha belonging to Guntur district in Andhra Pradesh for her achievements in the defence manufacturing sector. She will be conferred the award in Kolkata on March 18.

Ms Sujatha did her schooling at Pattibandla Seetharamaiah High School and Intermediate in JKC College in Guntur. She did her engineering in Bulgaria. She is the daughter of highly respected and popular trade union leader G Suryam. After returning to India from Bulgaria, she joined the defence manufacturing sector in 1989.

Ever since she has worked in several defence manufacturing and ordinance institutions. Starting her career in New Delhi, she worked in Avadi at Chennai, Kolkata and Medak. She worked in units that manufacture heavy defence vehicles, battle tanks and earned many awards for her contributions. Layer, she was selected for her work with digital systems in the defence IT sector.