More than 1,000 police personnel have been awarded various categories of gallantry and service medals on the eve of the 75th Republic Day, a government statement on Thursday said. This includes 277 gallantry medals.

A total of 1,132 personnel of police, fire services, home guards and civil defense and correctional services were awarded gallantry and service medals on the occasion of Republic Day, 2024, following the recent restructuring of medals, according to a Union Home Ministry statement. Is. Said.

A total of 16 gallantry and service medals have now been combined into four. These medals are now classified as President’s Medal for Gallantry (PMG), Medal for Gallantry (GM), President’s Medal for Distinguished Service (PSM) and Medal for Meritorious Service (MSM).

Of the 277 gallantry awards, 119 have been awarded to personnel deployed in Left Wing Extremism affected areas and 133 to personnel from the Jammu and Kashmir region, the statement said.

The top category PMG has been awarded posthumously to two Border Security Force (BSF) personnel for their “outstanding contribution to the prestigious task of peacekeeping as part of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO)”. BSF’s 15th Congolese contingent at the Moroccan Rapid Deployment Battalion (MORDB) camp in Butembo.”

BSF head constables Sawla Ram Vishnoi and Shishu Pal Singh were killed in the line of duty in Congo in July, 2022.

The PMG and GM medals are awarded on the basis of “rare conspicuous act of gallantry” and “distinguished act of gallantry” respectively, in saving life and property, or in preventing a crime or arresting criminals, being accompanied by appropriate honours. The risk involved is estimated. The statement said that the responsibilities and duties of the concerned officer.

PSMs are awarded for particularly distinguished records in service and MSMs are awarded for valuable service such as resourcefulness and devotion to duty.

The highest number of gallantry medals have been awarded to Jammu and Kashmir Police personnel at 72, followed by Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel at 65, Maharashtra 18, Chhattisgarh 26, Jharkhand 23, Odisha 15, Delhi eight. . Police and 21 Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) personnel.

(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed – PTI)