New Delhi, August 14
The government on Monday released the list of Police Medal to be awarded this year on the occasion of Independence Day, the two troubled states — Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) and Andhra Pradesh bagged the maximum among the 900 personnel selected.
Among the central forces, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) topped the list with 131, which was followed by Border Security Force (BSF) with 67 medals.
As the Police medals are awarded in four categories — President's Police Medal for Gallantry (PPMG), Police Medal for Gallantry (PMG), President's Police Medal for Distinguished Service (PPMDS) and Police Medal for Meritorious Service (PMMS), only one police personnel from Chhattisgarh has been selected for the highest civil police award PPMG, though the total number of awardees is highest this year, a senior Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) official said.
However, according to the list released today by MHA, 190 personnel are going to receive PMG, while 93 will get PPMDS and 706 personnel will receive PMMS.
As per the MHA list, among the PMG awardees the CRPF topped the count with 53 personnel, while Andhra Pradesh got 52, which is followed by J&K with 25 medals. Seventeen and 12 police personnel of Naxal-affected Odisha and Maharashtra, too, have been selected for PMG.
Among the seven North-eastern states, which are largely insurgency hit, police personnel of Megalaya only received 17 PMG, as rest — Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura — have drawn a blank in the gallantry categories. An official in the MHA, while analysing the trend, said this was indicative of reduction in violence in the region.
Similarly, of the total 35 states and Union Territories (UTs), not a single police personnel from 26 has been selected for either of the two gallantry awards, which shows that they are also relatively peaceful.
