DW BUREAU / Jalandhar

Former DGP M.S. Bhullar and PAP ADGP M. F. Farooqui on Tuesday released a book named EVER ONWARDS on the All India Police Games. The book has been written by former DGP Rajdeep Singh Gill. The event witnessed galaxy of International Players of Punjab Police, BSF and CRPF at PAP Campus.

This is the first book on the All India Police Games. It includes the results of the All India Police Games from 1951 to 2010 and gives biodatas of the outstanding sportspersons along with photographs of all the meets, outstanding teams and best athletes of each year. Interesting records have also been given prominent space.

M.S. Bhullar congratulated the author of the book for this unique initiative and also shared his memories of his service years. He said that while Punjab Police is known for its bravery and dedication in performing its duty but its sports make it different from the rest and it is always proud of its players.

M.F. Farooqui, while talking about the rich legacy established by Mr. Bhullar and Mr. Gill in Punjab Police, said that even today they are a source of inspiration for us. He said that recently, Punjab Police players achieved great success in the World Police Games held in USA.

While giving details Rajdeep Singh Gill said that in this book he included some events of the All India Police Duty Meet, like equestrian and shooting events because they are also sports events. In the bio-data section the bio-datas of Police mountaineers find place as well. This makes the book more inclusive and informative. Due to the size of the book it was not possible to include results beyond 2010.

It was a herculean task in collecting all the data and photographs because neither the All India Police Sports Control Board nor any State Police or Central Police Force had the information. Slowly but steadily all the information required for the book was collected from State/ Central Sports Offices, Newspapers, Libraries retired sports persons books and magazines. The process took 10 years in all.

Rajdeep Singh Gill specially thanked his assistant Mohinder Singh who has been involved in every aspect of the preparation of this book. He also expressed gratitude to former DSP Lakhvir Singh, former Inspector Indervir Sharma and a host of retired and serving sportspersons of Punjab Police who helped in collecting data and photographs.

On this occasion, Hockey Olympics medalist Surinder Singh Sodhi, Arjuna Awardee Sajjan Singh Cheema and Padma Shri Bahadur Singh shared their views and said that the credit for the sports achievements of Punjab Police goes to sincere officers like Ashwani Kumar, Mehal Singh Bhullar and Rajdeep Singh Gill who always held the arm of every player in difficult times.

(editor@dailyworld.in)