Edition 21: Kalidas Suryavanshi

Devidas Deshpande
Each year, the police officials in the state are rewarded with the Director General Of Police insignia on May 1, which the foundation day of the Maharashtra. This year also the officers were rewarded with insignia. This year’s occasion was a special one as the state celebrated its 50th foundation day. Among those who were rewarded this year by the insignia at the hands of Ajit Pawar, district guardian minister, was Kalidas Suryawanshi, Assistant Commissioner of Police (Special Branch).

Kalidas Shankar Suryavanshi joined the police service on March 1, 1983 as Police Sub Inspector. His home district is Latur. He was promoted to the post of Assistant Police Inspector in 1993. He is working in his present post from March 26 last year. Incidentally, prior to that, he was working as Senior Police Inspector, Special Branch for one year till 2007 before being transferred on promotion to Nanded as deputy superintendent of police.

At present, he is in charge of the Foreigners Registration Branch in Police Commissioner’s office. “The work here involves registering all foreigners coming to the city. Every non-Indian person is required to register his name with us. Also, visa extension is also given from here. Earlier, when the entire work was done manually, lot of time was consumed. Now, with computerization, we have been successful in reducing the processing time. New registration is done in one day while extension application is processed within 15 days, which stretched for months in the past,” Suryawanshi said. The job also involves finding the unauthorized foreigners living in the city and deporting them.

Suryawanshi was rewarded for commendable service with the insignia. “I have worked mostly in Nanded, Beed, Osmanabad districts and while working there, I was successful in solving many cases of dacoity. Especially, a case involved rape and murder of six year old girl. That case was solved in a month. The Insignia was awarded for that work,” he said. Earlier also, he had won first prize in a debate competition on Human Rights and Law in Aurangabad in 2008.

Know Law And Follow It
After having two stints in Pune, Suryawanshi comments about the city, “Life here has become too fast. Everybody wants to go through fast lane. But there should be balance between speed and discipline. The people should first understand the law and then try to follow it. Most of the people find themselves in trouble because they have insufficient information regarding the laws. As we keep the vechicle in good condition and provide fuel to run it, so should we know law and then follow it.” For example, it is mandatory for people to provide the information of tenants, if he is a foreigner, to FRO but many people simply don’t know such a branch exists.

Asked whether he is satisfied with the service, given the constraint of time a policeman faces, he said, “Family or private life and service of police are two opposite things. But we have to accept the fact. It is beyond doubt that the duty comes first for us. It is understood from the day one joins the department.”

About the police department, he said, “Given the work we are involved in, that of keeping the rule of law, policemen get the maximum chance of doing service to humanity. People have so much faith in the policemen and they have high expectations also. To fulfill these expectations, the policeman should be knowledgeable, informed and quick to act. He should be in a position to use the information he has at right time, right place. This is era of the science and in this era, one must be prepared to face any type of possibility. The policeman should be educated and has to know what the human rights are, so that these rights are not violated. To ensure that this happens smoothly, care should be taken at the time of recruitement.”
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First Commissioner Modak No More
E. S. Modak, who worked as the first commissioner of Pune passed away on April 29. He was 90 years old.

Born on March 25, 1920, Modak was an Indian Police Service officer. His first posting was in Satara. He served as the police commissioner of the city during June 1, 1965 to June 8, 1968. He was known as a disciplined and honest officer.
After retiring in 1978, he settled in the Koregaon Park area. He was decorated with the President’s medal twice, first before the independence of India and one after the independence. He breathed his last today morning due to old age.
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