Honouring the unsung heroes

Sincere work

As a means of recognising the efforts of the ‘frontline soldiers’ of the City’s police department in making Bangalore a crime-free place, Round Table India recently honoured 21 achievers at ‘Knights in Khakhi’ at Hotel Chancery Pavilion.

Out of a list of 100 nominees of different ranks, 21 were chosen for their noteworthy contributions in the field — in helping bust drug rackets, car thefts, dowry harassment and solving murder investigations among other things.  “In every society, there are good and bad people. We need people to keep a check on the bad elements. For this, we want to thank the police for risking their lives for our security and sacrificing their sleep so that we can sleep peacefully at night,” shares Manoj Mehra, a member of Round Table India.
Each awardee proudly walked up to the podium and was presented with a trophy, gift hampers and a shawl.

 “It’s a very happy moment for me. It is encouraging for us to see our work being appreciated,” says Lakshmidevi M, who was been in the force for eight years.

Manjula D M, who runs the Ulsoor Gate Women Police Station, shares her sentiments.  “I have been an employee for 13 years and it is good to be acknowledged in such a big way. For once, it feels that it isn’t only my family who feels proud of me being a woman constable,” she says.

It was a delight to see the smiling faces of the policemen, for many of whom this was a dream come true.

“I’ve been chosen because I started a public initiative to collect blood for those who need it at the City Market Police Station. It’s a very joyous occasion,” says Krishna ‘Blood’ Singh, as he is popularly known.

The evening was presided over by BNS Reddy, Joint Commissioner, City Armed Reserve, who spoke of leadership, perseverance and achieving greatness on merit; Kannada actress, Priyanka Upendra, who proudly called the men and women of the police department the ‘everyday heroes of the nation’; and Jyothiprakash Mirji, City Police Commissioner.

“Usually, nobody remembers the policeman. And when they do, it is for the wrong reasons. At any event, the cops are made to stand outside and keep guard. They’re always standing and thinking of preventive measures and jumping to action. I’m so happy to see that for once, the tables have turned and they’ve been made to sit and been honoured for their work,” sums up Jyothiprakash Mirji.