Woman railway cop becomes a 'lesson' in Maharashtra textbook
Mumbai, June 11: A policewoman attached to the Railway Protection Force (RPF) in Mumbai has achieved a unique distinction - her feats of child rescue have been saluted as a study chapter in the SSC textbooks in Maharashtra.
The woman is RPF Sub-Inspector Rekha Mishra, 32, posted with the Central Railway. She is credited with rescuing hundreds of destitute, missing, kidnapped or runaway children from various railway stations on the network in the past few years.
Her daring exploits to save these children, often battling great odds, figure in the Maharashtra State Board's Class 10 textbook in Marathi this academic year.
Hailing from an army officer's family from Allabahad in Uttar Pradesh, Mishra joined the RPF in 2014 and is currently posted at the famed Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT).
She was felicitated at a special function organised by Central Railway General Manager D.K. Sharma here on Monday for her achievements which have been noticed widely.
"She is doing an excellent job and simultaneously serving a noble social cause too. Her being part of the chapter in the textbook will definitely inspire the new generations," Sharma said.
Mishra said: "It's a moment of great pride for me... Most children run away from homes after fights with their parents or siblings... Some do it to meet their Facebook friends or even to meet their favourite films stars, and others are lured by the glamour of Mumbai. A few unfortunate ones have also been kidnapped."
She said that her team keeps an eye open to ensure that such children - mostly in the impressionable age group of 13-16 - don't end up in the wrong hands and suffer, and the final aim is to reunite them with their families.
In the past four years, she and her alert team have rescued more than 430 such innocent children including 45 minor girls, a deaf-and-dumb boy and many others who couldn't speak Hindi and interpreters had to be called.
A majority of the children were found to be from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, and some others from all over India, with the numbers usually shooting up during the summer vacations, she said.
While the RPF managed to trace the families of around two dozen such children, the rest are lodged in children's care homes in the city till their kin are located.
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We are together at home: Sharad Pawar on Ajit Pawar
Mumbai (PTI): Former Union minister Sharad Pawar on Monday said that he and nephew Ajit Pawar are together as a family, but made it clear that the latter was heading a different political party.
“Gharat tari ekatrach ahet (we are together at home least),” the veteran politician said at a press conference at Chiplun in coastal Konkan region.
He was responding to a query about the demand from “various quarters in the state” that the uncle-nephew duo should come together once again.
In July last year, Ajit Pawar broke away from his uncle to join the Eknath Shinde-led government in the state as deputy chief minister. Of late, there has been speculation over his continuation in the ruling alliance.
Asked about Ajit Pawar’s recent remarks the decision to make his wife Sunetra Pawar contest the Lok Sabha polls against Supriya Sule in Baramati was a mistake, the veteran politician said, “He is in a different party. Why should we comment on decisions taken by another party?”
Asked if the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance of NCP (SP), Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) had decided its chef ministerial face, Pawar said, “I don’t think that it is an urgent issue at the moment”.
When elections were held after the Emergency, Morarji Desai’s name as PM candidate was not disclosed before polling, he added.
“Our (MVA) attempt is to give a progressive alternative in Maharashtra with help of other parties like Samajwadi Party and Peasants and Workers Party,” he said.
“Our observation is that the people of Maharashtra have made up their mind to give us (MVA) a chance in the ensuing elections,” he said.
Asked about Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu’s claim that sub-standard ghee with 'animal fat' was used to make prasad laddoos at Tirupati temple during Jaganmohan Reddy's tenure as CM, Pawar said, “If anything was mixed, it is very wrong and action should be taken against those involved”.
