Mission Mrityunjaya

Anti-Terrorism front Launched by Nagpur city police

The Nagpur City Police has launched a community - oriented special campaign named ‘Mission Mrityunjaya’ in order to create awareness among school and college students against the dangers of terrorism. It has been the common experience that terrorists generally target crowded places by placing explosives with a view to causing maximum possible damage to life and property. Most of the times the suspects are noticed by common people, but due to lack of vision and necessary sensitization, they overlook such acts as day-to-day sights. A massive sensitization and awareness campaign was launched through lectures, question-answer sessions, interactions along with the students showing a locally made small documentary film on terrorist attacks. Officers from the rank of police sub-inspector to the Commissioner of Police actively participated in it to make it an institutional movement for students making them more vigilant and watchful not only for their day-to-day personal safety but to act as dynamic watch dogs and help to make our environment secure from the extremist onslaughts.

The word ‘Mrityunjaya’ means ‘Victory Over Death’. The mission aims to kindle the spirit of pride and patriotism and thus averting the deaths of the innocent as well as damage to public and private property.

The campaign was inaugurated on 6th September, 2007 by Dr. Satyapal Singh, the Commissioner of Police, Nagpur City.  Dr. Gaurishankar Parashar, the Pro-Vice Chancellor, R.T.M. Nagpur University, Nagpur was the chairperson. Headmasters and Principals of about 300 schools and colleges of Nagpur City attended the function.

Under this campaign, many of the Nagpur City Police officers visited about 400 schools and colleges and interacted with about 1,10,000    (one lakh ten thousands ) students.

Under this mission, the ‘Mrityunjaya Clubs’ have been founded in 368 schools and colleges of Nagpur City. Every club consists of about 25 to 40 members including Principal/ Headmaster, teachers and students. All of the club members have been issued photo identity cards by the Nagpur City Police. These club members work as the core group in their institution and act as a sentient network between  the police and public.

The ‘Mission Mrityunjaya’ has received a tremendous and enthusiastic response from the educational institutions and the society at large. The R.T.M. Nagpur University, Nagpur, and the Deputy Director/Education Officer, Nagpur, have issued instructions to all the colleges and schools to wholeheartedly support and participate in this anti-terrorist campaign.

         The Nagpur City Police has made a small documentary film showing how terrorists plant explosives and how the vigilant eyes of citizens can foil their nefarious designs.

        Innovative leaflets, posters, pamphlets and banners have also been designed and distributed on a large scale in order to create an environment against terrorism. The basic emphasis of campaign is to instill a sense of alertness amongst youths so that the unattended and suspicious things could be spotted and reported to the police at the earliest.

 -The motto of the mission is-

“ Remaining alert is our religion and making aware is our mission” 

On 19th November 2007 a congregation of the ‘Mission Mrityunjaya Club’ members was inaugurated at the hands of Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh, the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra, under the chairmanship of  Shri R.R. Patil, the Hon’ble Dy.Chief Minister of Maharashtra. The other dignitaries included ministers and the Director General of Police, Maharashtra. About 12,000 (twelve thousand) people including school and college students attended the function. The huge crowd including school and college students attended the function. The Chief Minister exhorted to take this mission to the length and breadth of the state.

A coordination committee has been set up to monitor the work of the mission. The members of the committee include the Commissioner of Police, Nagpur City, as its chairman, the Addl. Commissioner of Police (Crime) as its secretary, the Vice-Chancellor of Nagpur University, the Deputy Director (Education), the Education Officer of Zilla Parishad, Nagpur and the principals/headmasters of various colleges and schools as members. The coordination committee meets every after two months to discuss and decide the future course of action and programmes.