Ahmedabad: Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani on Thursday said communal tension has become a thing of the past in the state.
Rupani also said that Gujarat's crime detection rate was better than other states and thanked the police force for maintaining law and order.
He was speaking at a function organised for awarding the 'President's Police Medal' and 'police medals' to 168 personnel, including former director general of police P P Pandey.
"Gujarat Police's reputation is known across the country. Our crime detection rate is also better than other states. Gujarat has developed because we were able to maintain law and order," the chief minister said.
"Communal tension in Gujarat is a thing of the past and anti-social elements cannot dare to raise their head now," Rupani added.
After the Godhra train burning incident of February 27, 2002, Gujarat witnessed the worst communal riots in the state's history in which over 1,000 people, mostly belonging to the minority community, were killed.
He was accompanied by Minister of State for Home Pradeepsinh Jadeja, Director General of Police Shivanand Jha and Chief Secretary J N Singh.
Out of 168 police personnel felicitated at the event, 18 received the 'President's police medal' and 150 got the 'police medal', Jadeja said.
While the medals were announced by the Centre during the Independence Day and Republic Day celebrations between 2014 and 2019, they were awarded to police personnel on Thursday, he added.
Former DGP Pandey was the first to receive the President's police medal at the event. Pandey was arrested in 2013 for the alleged fake encounter of Ishrat Jahan, and was later made DGP in-charge of the state after he came out on bail in 2015.
The senior police officer stepped down following a PIL filed in the Supreme Court. He was later discharged from the case by a special CBI court.
Other senior officers who were felicitated included retired IPS officer Mohan Jha, serving IPS officers Vikas Sahay, Amit Vishwakarma, Rajiv Ranjan Bhagat and Brajesh Kumar Jha among others.
Medals were also awarded to constables, sub-inspectors, inspectors and deputy superintendents of police.
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