The State Home Department in Maharashtra is gearing up for a significant overhaul of its top police leadership, including the position of Director General of Police (DGP) and Police Commissioners of Nagpur and Thane. The impending retirement of the current DGP, Rajnish Seth, on December 31 has prompted the department to commence the process of selecting his successor.A top rank official said that several prominent names have emerged as contenders for the esteemed position of State DGP. The frontrunner is Senior IPS Officer Rashmi Shukla, who currently serves as the Director General (DG) of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB). Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar is also a strong candidate for the role. Other notable contenders include Thane CP Jaijeet Singh, DG ATS Sadanand Date, DG Police Housing Sandeep Bishnoi, DG Railway Pradnya Sarvade, Additional Director of NIA Atulchandra Kulkarni, and DG State Security Corporation Bipin Kumar Singh, he said. He further stated that the State Home
- Maharashtra Police officers are working hard to protect civilians in the ongoing civil strife in South Sudan, despite facing shortage of food
By Dheeraj Fartode
NAGPUR, July 16
THERE is war. There is peace. And, there is a situation called civil strife that does not fit into category of either war or peace. But, in all these situations, saviours assume a special significance for people. For the strife-stricken people of South Sudan, a team of Maharashtra Police is proving to be that bunch of angels, saviours.
These angels are Sail Sheela, Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP); Dr Sanjay Tungar, Vijay Pillewar, Gautam Pathare, Dhammapal Bansode, all Police Inspectors, are the officers who are serving in South Sudan under United Nations Peace-Keeping Mission. They are performing their duties almost round-the-clock, for, any incident can occur any time.
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This picture speaks volumes about the disturbance
in South Sudan, as well as the risk of operating there.
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They are heading contingents protecting civilians arriving at Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camps and UN property. United Nations Mission in the Republic of South Sudan (UNMISS) is headquartered in Juba, where it has got three Protection of Civilian (PoC) camps -- PoC-1, PoC-2, and newly formed PoC at Tomping. Some of these officers of Maharashtra Police are leading contingents at Bentiu, Aweil, Rumbek, Juba, and Kwajoak towns of South Sudan.
The situation is highly sensitive to the extent of being fragile. Sometimes, these officers do not get enough time to rest or sleep. And, the civil strife has also affected food supply to these tireless servants of humanity.
But, they do not whine. For, they realise the gravitas of the situation and also of their role in it. For, they are the pavers of the road to development and peace. Some of these officers opened up while interacting with ‘The Hitavada’ on social media platform, and also shed some light on the turmoil in South Sudan.
“I was saddened by the situation... they were crying for help,” an officer gave vent to his feeling. And, why was he saddened? The officers saw children, women, senior citizens all crying for help because these poor people were caught in the hot rains of mortar shelling and gunshots on one hand and leading a shelterless life during the downpour of rains from the heavens. Being shelterless while there was live threat to life made the people feel nothing else but helpless.
Another officer said that he had never seen such turmoil, such misery, such helplessness of people. In fact, the protectors also face threat there and are caught in a tricky situation.
The conflict in South Sudan erupted between troops loyal to the President Salva Kiir and Vice-President Riek Machar. Kiir is an ethnic Dinka, while Machar is an ethnic Nuer. Dinka constitute 37 per cent of population size in the region while Nuer constitute 18 per cent. The country has 64 tribes. Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) is fighting war from Kiir side while Sudan People’s Liberation Army in Opposition (SPLA-IO) is on the side of Machar. Both are fighting to establish their supremacy in the region.
What makes the situation tricky and risky for UN Peace-Keeping Mission members is that SPLA leaders think that UN is feeding and protecting SPLA-IO. The UN peace-keepers have to resort to preventive firing for safety of its personnel. Maharashtra Police officers were in bunkers near Level-2 Hospital when there was heavy firing on Indian Embassy side at Tomping on Thursday.
However, this is not the only challenge. The task is to be performed almost round-the-clock and this gives very little or no time for Maharashtra Police team members to sleep. Besides, there are problems with food supply. Indian Army Battalions on UN Peace-Keeping Mission guard UN compound and have limited food supply, which comes from Tomping, the base of the UN Mission in South Sudan.
The main reason behind food shortage is flight delays. Almost all food supply in South Sudan is managed from Juba by airfreight. As Juba is mainland of the strife, flights get delayed at times and this affects food supply to UNMISS members.
But, angels are never deterred by challenges. For, they are there to meet those challenges for others. And, this makes the members of the UN Peace-Keeping Mission, including Maharashtra Police team, a revered bunch in the eyes of several displaced civilians living in UN’s Tomping refugee camp.
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