Odisha Police launch special drive to award medals to cops serving in Maoist belts
BHUBANESWAR: A day after announcing Police Antarik Suraksha Sewa Padak for 1,709 personnel for serving in Maoist-hit districts for more than two years, director general of police Abhay on Friday asked SPs to launch a special drive to identify more such eligible cops.
“Our focus is that the deserving personnel, who served for two years or more in the internal security duty in Maoist belts, are acknowledged and awarded with the Padak (medal). This will boost the morale of the personnel working in difficult and hostile circumstances,” a senior police officer said.
Though the ministry of home affairs (MHA) instituted the medal in 2001, very few cops, who served in Maoist-affected regions in the state, were conferred with the medal. State DGPs are empowered to present the medal to the eligible personnel.
Strangely, no such medal was given to the police personnel in the state since October 2017. The police headquarters said only 1,268 police personnel had received the medal between January 1, 2013 and September 23, 2020.
“We had given the medal to 193 police personnel in January 2013, 1,007 cops in June 2017 and 68 personnel in September 2017. While the total number of recipients was only 1,268 in the last seven years, we presented the medal to a record number of 1,709 personnel, including 12 IPS officers on a single day (September 24, 2020),” the senior officer said.
The 1,709 recipients included 275 personnel from Rayagada district, 252 from Koraput district, 248 from Malkangiri district, 198 from Nabarangpur district, 107 from Kalahandi district and 173 from Gajapati district. Besides, 444 medal winners belonged to some other districts and police establishments in the state.
Left-wing extremism (LWE) related violence has significantly declined in the state in the last few years. At least 13 Maoists have so far been killed in different districts this year. Recently, the state government declared five districts—Angul, Boudh, Sambalpur, Deogarh and Nayagarh—as Maoist-free belts. At present, total 10 (Koraput, Malkangiri, Rayagada, Bargarh, Balangir, Nabarangpur, Kalahandi, Nuapada, Kandhamal, and Sundargarh) out of 30 districts in the state are affected by the LWE menace.