Delhi Police gaffe: 'Non-police' colony gets award for cleanliness

In a faux pas, the Delhi Police awarded a "non-police colony" for being one of the cleanest "police colonies" due to a mix-up over similar sounding names of RWA presidents.

An award function was held last week to reward the cleanest police colonies under three categories under the Swachh Bharat Misison cleanliness drive.

The awards were given by Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik on May 16.

The award was supposed to be given to a police colony in Vasant Kunj, but the police ended up inviting the RWA president of a non-police colony for taking the award, a police officer said.

The resident welfare association (RWA) president of the 'non-police' colony attended the function, took the award from Patnaik, and it was only after the award ceremony when a list of the awardees, who were present, was being prepared, that the error was realised.

The RWA of the non-police colony was then informed about the mix-up and the award was later given to the RWA president of the police colony. A verbal apology was also tendered to the president of the non-police colony.

The officer said that the first names of the two RWA presidents were the same, while they had different surnames. He said both presidents' first name was Meenakshi and their surnames were also similar sounding, which led to the confusion.

Milind Dumbere, Deputy Commissioner of Police (Southwest), said, "It is a case of mistaken identity. The award is for police colonies but the constable ended up calling the RWA president of a non-private colony located in the same area because her name is similar to that of the representative of the police colony.