NEW DELHI: They bagged the best marching contingent award for the 14th time, but only after waiting for 14 years. On Friday, Delhi Police was declared as the best marching contingent among Central Armed Police Forces and other auxiliary forces at this year’s Republic Day parade. It had last won the award in 2006.
The assistant commissioner of police at Madhu Vihar, Akshat Kaushal, a 2018-batch IPS officer, was leading the parade as the contingent marched on Rajpath. “The amount of dedication our instructor had put in and the enthusiasm of our seniors really helped us a lot. Commissioner Sir told us to give our best. We got the best treatment, be it in terms of the diet or the uniform. It feels great that our efforts have finally paid off,” the 32-year-old officer told TOI.
Kaushal, who comes from a family of uniform lovers, said he had just told the contingent members “the nation would be watching us and we should give our best”. He added, “Honestly, when I got to know that we have won, somewhere inside I felt we deserved it. It was a rush of memories and the 5am practices our instructors made us do.”
The ACP had to rush back to the Ghazipur border, which falls under his jurisdiction, for duty soon after the parade was over.
The Delhi Police contingent consisted of 96 constables and three sub-inspectors Jagseer Singh (27), Hanspreet Singh (28) and Praveen Kumar (25), assisted by 68 personnel of the police band. It was adjudged the best marching contingent by three panels of judges appointed by the defence ministry for assessing the performance of marching contingents in the parade. Earlier, a contingent of around 148 personnel would march; the number was reduced due to Covid-19.
Chief drill instructor Bishan Thakur, who trained the men, said, “All our men were young and from the 2018-19 batch, full of enthusiasm and confidence. All were above 6 feet.” Due to the pandemic, two contingents were made.