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A Village Burnt Overnight: Tears, Loss and Survival in Dhamangaon Blaze

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  Sitting amid the blackened remains of his home, 32-year-old Nikesh Gawali carefully broke open a half-melted plastic box with a screwdriver. His hands shook slightly, not out of fear, but out of hope. “I’m trying to find my daughter Aarti’s gold earrings,” he said quietly, still focused on the box. “She’s just five. I got them made recently after months of labour work.” The plastic box, warped and blackened by heat, was one of the few things left from his two-room house on the outskirts of Dhamangaon village . All around him lay ash, broken tin sheets and charred wooden beams. The walls had cracked under the heat and the front room’s tin roof had caved in completely. What remained was a blackened debris all around - almost nothing to suggest a home once stood there. Nikesh earns his living as an agricultural labourer, like many in the village. Work is uncertain and depends on the season. Those earrings weren’t just jewellery - they were a small dream, a reward for his hard work,...
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1.5 lakh 'Police Mitra' for pro-people policing

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  • 1.5 lakh Police Mitra joins hands of Maharashtra Police 
  • Police Mitra will be use for intelligence gathering in urban areas 
  • Many cases solved with help of Police Mitra


CommissioneratePolice Mitra
Mumbai  6484
Thane 6420
Navi Mumbai 2162
Pune Nashik 5510
Solapur 1914
Aurangabad 1410
Nagpur 1201


By Dheeraj Fartode
The scheme of ‘Police Mitra’ holds the potential to change the policing in State and bridge the widening gap between citizens and the men in khaki. Across the State the policemen have enrolled 1.5 lakh citizens as Police Mitra till date. The number is equal to current size of uniformed men in the police department. 
Police Mitra

The programme, a brain child of Director General of Police (DGP) Praveen Dixit, hopes to win back support of man on the street. With citizens closely involved with police, the web of suspicion that always befell the policemen can be resolved and also help overcome the reservation citizens have while extending co-operation. 
DGP Dixit has asked the officers across State to adopt change and slowly and surely the changes in policing would be visible soon. Now, every unit of the state police will use the police Mitra in daily activities, including nakabandi, foot patrolling and intelligence gathering. Particularly the concept of involving citizens in nakabandi is very novel as it can relieve need to deploy large number of policemen and secondly effectiveness of such measures can be enhanced greatly, the DGP said.
As per the information provided by office of DGP, Maharashtra; police force at districts of Jalgaon, Akola, Buldhana and Nashik Rural are using Police Mitra since last two months and their feedback shows fantastic results. 
Talking further to The Hitavada, DGP Dixit said the scheme is great success across the State. He revealed his experience of visits of Bhandara and Gondia where police mitra and cops are jointly patrolling naxal infested region. He also explained that in future the scheme would be refined further to lay more stress on awareness and intelligence gathering. We want police mitra to act as our messengers and in turn create a positive image in society about policemen.
Some of the experiments being carried out through police mitra scheme is enumerated by the office of DGP:
Jalgaon Police is conducting Yuva Suraksha Abhiyan’ and recruiting College goings youths, girls, professors as Police Mitra. The cops are conducting brain storming sessions for police Mitra in the district on the sensitive issues of SIMI, terrorism, naxalism and security of vital installations. 
Akola Police has undertaken Jansetu programme and using Police Mitra to arrest farmers suicide. Superintendent of Police Chandra Kishore Mina have formed a committee to make people aware and connected Police Mitra scheme with agriculture experts, police patil, farmers and talathi. The committee is conducting interactive session for farmers in the district. 
In riot hit Khamgaon taluka, the police are guiding the youngsters about career avenues and enrolled them as Police Mitra. 
Railway police too are using the Police Mitra for intelligence gathering and trying to get information about criminals before they can strike.

DGP Dixit appeals for 10,000 Police Mitra from Nagpur


Barring Gadchiroli, Nagpur Commissioner of Police have enrolled least numbers of Police Mitra across the state. In total 1.5 lakh Police Mitra, Nagpur Police have enrolled merely 1201 Police Mitra. Mumbai Police have enrolled 6484 Police Mitra followed by 6420 in Thane Commissionerate, 5510 in Pune Commissionerate, 3065 in Solapur Commissionerate, 2162 in Navi Mumbai Commissionerate, 1914 Nashik Commissionerate and 1410 in Aurangabad Commissionerate. Interestingly, Nagpur Rural Police have enrolled 2874 Police Mitra which is double the number recruited by Nagpur Police. 
Asked about the poor number of police mitra in Nagpur, the DGP said in democracy ultimately it's people participation that matters the most. Hence we have to trust people and maintaining distance from society would not going to help the police. 
DGP feels that given the population and expanse of Nagpur city, there should be atleast 10,000 police mitras. The task is not that difficult as Nagpurians are known to extend co-operation to police department in every initiative.

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