History of SRPF

The State Reserve Police Force or SRPF as it is popularly known, was raised on 6th March, 1948 as a Special Armed Police Force of the State of Maharashtra. In order to make Maharashtra self sufficient in matters of Internal Security, two units were raised at Purandar and Sambre (Belgaum, Karnataka). After the re-organization of States, the strength of the force increased with the amalgamation of the armed Police Units from Old Hyderabad State Police Force and Central Province and Berar. During the mid 1970's, the onerous duties of guarding vital installations like BARC and the Bombay Airport also led to the expansion of the force. The advent of Naxalism in Maharashtra in the form of Peoples War Group, brought about further expansion in the SRPF units and Groups were raised at Hingoli and Gadchiroli.

Today, the SRPF is a proud-armed Police Unit, which is an integral and an extremely important part of Maharashtra State Police. SRPF is organised into 13 Groups at Mumbai, Pune, Daund, Solapur, Jalna, Amravati, Nagpur, Hingoli , Dhule & 03 India Reserve Battalions at Aurangabad, Gondia & Kolhapur. It is an about 18000 strong force, with a long and proud tradition of courage & dedication to duty and bravery. 41 SRPF Police personnel have made supreme sacrifice of their lives on duty. SRPF personnel have always been in the forefront in tackling communal riot situations, in almost all the communal hot spots in the State. They have performed the task assigned to them with dedication, sincerity and in adversity, with aplomb and continue to be the bulwark of the State power in the State of Maharashtra and various parts of the Country. It would be pertinent to note that the SRPF Gr. II, Pune has had the privilege of taking an active part in the Goa Police operations in 1961, where it was honoured by the then Prime Minister, Pandit Nehru.

Its various units have taken part in the operations in the North-Eastern States during the 1962 operations on the Indo-China Border. It has also given an outstanding account of its capability, where its assistance has been called for by other States like Gujarat, Tamilnadu, Delhi, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, etc

1 more group and 2 IRB's have been sanctioned by Government of Maharashtra at Kusadgaon, Ahmednagar, Chandrapur & Akola respectively. There is 1 Training Centre at Nanvij, Daund, Pune district & 2 SDRF Units at Nagpur & Dhule.

Responsibilities :

• Maintenance of Law & Order
• Anti-Naxal Operations
• Security of Vital Installations
• Feeding Training Units
• Forest Guarding
• Disaster Management