Humanity in Khaki: How Two Pune Police Naiks touched the Migrant Workers Heart with their Efforts
Police Naik Kiran Barde, Machhindra Dhapse
Pune, May 24, 2020: A policeman’s dedication to duty knows no bounds. Two Pune Police Naiks Machhindra Dhapse and Kiran Barde proved this right, yet again. On May 19, the two policemen of Special Branch 2 of Pune City Police were on duty at the time of the departure of migrant workers to Basti in Uttar Pradesh.
The two policemen standing at the entrance of the railway station saw a couple crying loudly when they came inside the gate. After enquiring they learned that Ashok Kumar and his wife Poonam Devi who were to board the Pune-Basti Shramik Special train– forgot their belongings including gold and cash in the PMPML bus they traveled from Hadapsar to Pune station.
The couple along with their daughters, a 2-month-old daughter Ananya and 2-year-old Shivanya had boarded bus no. 755 from Hadapsar depot to the station. The cops quickly enquired from PMPML officials and learnt that the bus had left for Hadapsar depot about 10 minutes back.
While Police Naik Barde was waiting with the family, Police Naik Dhapse took his two-wheeler and rode in search of the bus. But he could not find the bus anywhere between Pune station and Hadapsar. At Hadapsar depot, Dhapse saw bus number 755 preparing to be sanitized. Dhapse told the bus driver what had happened and contacted Barde on his mobile to know from the couple about the description of their luggage. After confirming the same, Dhapse took the two bags and some other household items from the bus driver and brought them to Pune station on his two-wheeler.
The luggage was sanitized and handed over to the family before they boarded the train. They could not hold back their tears of joy as soon as they got their belongings. The tears showed how much the goods were worth to them. Ashok and Poonam expressed their gratitude to the Pune City Police for the promptness shown by policemen Barde and Dhapse.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (PMRDA) Sarang Avhad, who is coordinating movement of migrant workers, Special Branch Police Inspectors Milind Gaikwad and Rajkumar Shere supervised the work of policemen at the railway station.
