Editor,
As we are proudly celebrating the 52nd raising day of the Arunachal Pradesh Police (APP) on 8 November, we ought to remember the pioneering police officers and personnel who made tremendous efforts in shaping the APP. There have been countless police officers who served the state in every challenging time. Amongst the countless unsung heroes is one late Lal Bahadur Sewa, the 1st IPS officer who had been transferred and posted to Arunachal Pradesh and is well known as the architect of the APP. The old police officers’ mess located in Ganga, Itanagar, has been named LB Sewa Police Officers’ Mess in his honour.
Similarly, one such soul whose contribution is significantly visible in the police department is IPS officer Raksap Yomcha, who retired as DIGP, APP.
Yomcha sir, a 1981 batch APPS officer, apart from rendering his services as a school teacher, panchayat leader (ASM) and assistant editor at All India Radio, Dibrugarh (Assam), also immensely contributed to the police department by dint of his work experience and deep understanding of the future of the APP during his tenure.
It was my honour to have served the police department in uniform under his command while he was posted as the commandant of the 1st AAP Bn HQ, Chimpu during 1992-’94 and as commandant in 2nd AAP Bn during 2000-2002. I had the opportunity to have served in the capacity of a PA to the commandant, 2nd AAP Bn from 1998 to 2002 and also in the 1st AAP Bn from 2003 to 2013, during which I closely observed the attention given by Yomcha sir towards the progress of the battalion in particular and the APP in general. I am pretty sure that battalion officers/personnel who had served under Yomcha sir’s command remember him and often discuss his contribution, especially how firmly he had protected the police land and got formal allotment, protected police land from any encroachment at the battalion headquarters campus in Chimpu, the SRPL (State Police Reserve Line) in Chandan Nagar and the 2nd AAPBn HQ campus in Gumin Nagar, Aalo, during his tenure as the commandant.
Further, his firm efforts for the raising the AAPBn and establishment of the Bn HQ in Chimpu, as well as creation of the subsidiary training centre in Aalo in 1988-’89 were the needs of the time.
It will be unjustified if I do not mention his contribution towards the education of police wards, for which he started the Police Balwadi School under the PHQ Welfare branch at both the Bn HQs, which are now being upgraded and converted to government schools, and other welfare measure for the betterment of police families.
Yomcha sir often used a phrase: ‘Jo kuch karna hey, jinda hote hi karna hey; gujarne k baad woh admi achha thaa bolke statue banane se jyada jinda mei hi kisike honour mein banana hey to usike hath se inauguration karne sahi hoga, uska dil aur atma to khus hoga hi… inspirational hoga auron k liye.’
Remembering all these pioneering officers who paved a progressive path for the APP, and on the auspicious occasion of the 52nd APP raising day, I would like to attract the attention of the competent authority to consider naming some institution of the APP/AAPBn in Chimpu in honour Rakshap Yomcha sir, and to consider inviting him to inaugurate it, so that the coming generation of police officers and personnel may always remember his significant contributions towards the police fraternity.
HC Bogiram Chetry,
AAP Bn,
Chimpu