All-woman SWAT team ready to fight terrorists in Delhi
New Delhi, Aug 10 : The Delhi Police on Friday inducted an all-woman Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, consisting of 36 commandos -- the first-ever by any police force in India -- for anti-terrorist operations.
Presiding over the induction ceremony, Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh expressed happiness that the Delhi Police has raised an all-woman SWAT team and mentioned that "they will be deployed during the upcoming Independence Day celebrations".
The elite women commandos, hailing from the north-eastern states, will be deployed at strategic locations for securing the Independence Day celebrations.
"The 36 women SWAT commandos have undergone rigorous 15-month training which includes basic, commando and advanced honing of skills under the tutelage of NSG (National Security Guard) trainers. The Delhi Police has raised the commandos for anti-terrorism duty under the Special Cell unit of the force," Rajnath Singh said.
On the occasion, the Minister asked the Delhi Police to play a lead role as being the police of the national capital and advised the force to become a role model for other states and union territories' police.
"The practices adopted by Delhi Police should be among the best practices of police," he said.
Rajnath Singh also stressed upon the perceptional change of the Delhi Police, directing senior officers to go on patrolling with juniors on some occasions and motivate them to adopt a public-friendly approach while taking part in their policing activities.
On Friday, he also inaugurated the building of the offices of Deputy Commissioner of Police (South-West district), Delhi Cantt Police Station and Delhi Police residential complex and said that "construction of new complexes strengthen the basic infrastructure of the department which will lead to new energy in the personnel towards their duty, finally benefiting the citizens".
He said that the society has a lot of expectations from the Delhi Police and to meet these expectations, it needs modern working place and good working environment.
For the purpose, the Minister said the government has increased the fund allocation to Delhi Police from Rs 6,378.18 crore in 2017-18 to Rs 7,426.98 crore in 2018-19, an increase of 15 per cent.
He said the government has also sanctioned procurement of Facial Recognition System for the Crime Unit and 2,700 hand-held devices with SIM card for equipping constables with e-beatbook.
The senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader also said that a proposal to recruit 12,000 additional personnel in the Delhi Police is under consideration, but added that the approval has been given to recruit 3,139 police personnel.
Besides, the government created 4,227 posts in the year 2016 and another 3,139 posts this year while separating the crime investigation from the law and order functions with an aim to improve the conviction rate, he said.
Lieutenant Governor Anil Baijal, Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik and other senior officers were present on the occasion.
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MP boat tragedy: Death toll rises to 10 with recovery of one more body; 3 tourists still missing
Jabalpur (PTI): The body of a child was retrieved on Saturday evening from Bargi Dam in Jabalpur district of Madhya Pradesh, raising the death toll in the cruise boat tragedy that took place two days ago to ten, while search continued for three missing tourists.
The boat, operated by the state tourism department, capsized during a storm on Thursday evening with some of the survivors alleging negligence and safety lapses such as life jackets not being distributed in time.
The body recovered on Saturday evening was possibly that of six-year-old Viraj Soni, said Sub-Divisional Officer of Police (SDOP) Anjul Ayank Mishra.
"The identity will be confirmed after family members identify the body," he told PTI.
Kamraj, an employee of the Ordnance Factory at Khamaria, his five-year-old son Tamil, and another child Mayuram (5) who had come from southern India were still missing.
Authorities have arranged equipment to search deep waters of the dam and are getting a generator to facilitate diving operations, Mishra added.
Divers and disaster response teams have expanded the search radius to five km, he said.
Of the 41 identified passengers on board the ill-fated vessel, 28 were rescued, police said.
More than 200 rescuers, including around 20 Army divers airlifted from Agra, joined the search operation that resumed at 5 on Saturday morning. The operation, involving the National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and local divers, was briefly affected at around 9 am due to strong winds, officials said.
Post-mortem examinations of nine deceased persons have been completed, Mishra said.
"Our priority is to search for the missing persons. We will also register a First Information Report in the case soon," he said.
Police said CCTV footage near the boarding point showed 43 people heading towards the boat while the identities of 41 passengers have been confirmed so far.
The state government on Friday ordered a probe into the tragedy and dismissed three crew members. It also banned operation of similar vessels in the state.
