Passing-out parade of 98th MPA batch held

Nashik, Aug 31 (UNI) Passing-out parade of the 98th batch of trainees of the Maharashtra Police Academy (MPA) was held at the MPA ground here today.

The parade comprised 530 trainees including 112 women trainees and 66 trainees from the state of Goa. This is the biggest batch of trainees at MPA after the 1991 batch.

State PWD Minister and Guardian Minister of the district Chhagan Bhujbal was the chief guest at the event. Director General of Police in Goa B S Brar was the special guest on the occasion.

Mr Bhujbal took the guard of honour and extended his best wishes to the trainees. Speaking on the occasion he said, ''Today there is a need of intellectual power along with physical power and to learn new things. Police has accepted this challenge.'' ''Police is needed everywhere and for every cause from petty thefts to big crimes. So they have to work very hard,'' Mr Bhujbal added.

Citing the examples of Adnan Patrawala kidnapping case in Mumbai and the merciless bashing up of a thief by Bihar police, Mr Bhujbal said that these are the examples of police's misbehaviour and advised the trainees to avoid indulging in such incidents.

On the occasion, the trainees were presented with awards, for their performance during the training, from Mr Rajendra Shelke. A candidate from Dhamni village in Pune district won the 'Sword of Honour' for being the best trainee of the batch. He also won a silver Baton for the best 'inter-class trainee' and the 'Yashwantrao Chavan Gold Trophy' for the best inter-class and ground trainee.

Seema Disale won the 'Savitribai Phule Trophy' and also the 'Ahilyabai Holkar Trophy' for being the best woman trainee. Deepak Patil stood second and won the best trainee cop award. Yogesh Avhad won the 'N M Kamte Gold Trophy' for being the best trainee in rifle and revolver shooting.

The MPA was established at Bhamburde in Pune on July 1, 1906.

It was earlier known as the Central Police Training School. It was shifted to Nashik in 1908.

In 1961 it began to be known as the 'Police Training College'.

The name later changed to ''Maharashtra Police Academy'' on February 5, 1990.

In these 100 years of its existence, the MPA has trained 344 IPS officers 696 Dy SP and 15,562 PSIs. It has trained officers from other states also including Goa and Gujarat. It imparts training to officers from forest department, MSRTC and other government departments. The training includes subjects such as Indian law, police rules, forensic sciences, mob control, cyber crime and VIP security.

UNI