City police chief AN Roy is in the midst of a row with state Director-General of Police PS Pasricha over the replacement of the Mumbai police logo.
MUMBAI: City police chief AN Roy is in the midst of a row with state Director-General of Police PS Pasricha over the replacement of the Mumbai police logo.
A source in the DGP’s office said Pasricha is peeved by Roy’s sudden, unilateral decision to change the century-old logo, an exercise that was carried out without Pasricha’s consent.
Speaking to DNA on Tuesday, Pasricha said, “History has it that the city police logo, which the force members donned on their uniforms all these years, was conceived by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru. Needless to say, it carried great emotional weight and possessed immense symbolic value.”
Pasricha declined to comment further. “Since I was never consulted prior to the replacement, it is difficult to say anything more at this juncture,” he said.
Several senior officers echoed the DGP’s sentiments and expressed surprise at the haste with which the switch was executed. A source said the row between the two top-most officers would worsen their already strained relations.
The source also wondered at Roy’s decision to keep a section of the Mantralaya mandarins in the dark when authorising the change. Administrative protocol does not permit the city police chief to take such decisions unilaterally, the source said.
Roy, however, insisted he has the power to effect the change as chief of the force. “I don’t need to take any permission on the matter,” he was quoted as saying on Monday. Repeated attempts by DNA to contact him failed.
Although he did not want to comment on the controversy, former DGP Arvind Inamdar said he is writing an article aimed at putting the “scores straight”.
The new logo bears a weighing scale girded by a circle encased in a pentagon — with Mumbai police written on it. The previous logo had a star, with Mumbai police and Sad Rakshanaya, Khal Nirgrahnaya (siding with the good and destroying the evil) emblazoned in the circle. The new logo has Sada Tatpar, Sada Madathis (always alert, always helpful) as the credo.
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