MS Dhoni attends CISF mega cyclothon, says everyone can contribute to security
Dhoni attended a CISF coastal security event in Chennai, urging public vigilance and participation in safeguarding India’s extensive coastline.
New Delhi: Former Indian cricket team captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Tuesday attended a Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) program on coastal security awareness at Chennai’s Marina beach and said that “everyone can contribute to the security”.
The CISF mega cyclothon, which was flagged by Union home minister Amit Shah in Tamil Nadu on March 7, has two teams that are on a 25-day journey covering 6,553 km across 11 states and union territories along India’s coastline. The aim of the cyclone, according to CISF officials, is to generate awareness among the people living in coastal areas to become eyes and ears of the security agencies and police if they see any unusual anti-national or criminal activity.
It has, so far, covered 4,793 kms and has taken up mass public engagement – including participation of over 20 lakh people in the rallies and awareness campaigns; and over 80 lakh people engaged in the initiative online, CISF said on Tuesday. The cyclothon will culminate in Kanyakumari on March 31.
While attending the event in the midst of Indian Premier League (IPL), Dhoni said on Tuesday: “I am very happy to be part of this event. India has a very long coastline and manning it alone is difficult even for the coast guard, the Navy and the police. The initiative is to tell the citizens to inform the authorities if they see anything unusual. And we can all contribute, because security of the society depends on all of us.”
Other than Dhoni, other notable sports personalities like Neeraj Chopra, Manu Bhaker, Baichung Bhutia, Sunil Gavaskar, Suresh Raina, Javagal Srinath, Harbhajan Singh, Rajnikant, Mohanlal, Akshay Kumar, Suriya, R Madhavan, Sunil Shetty, Anil Kapoor, Jakie Shroff, Boman Irani, Manoj Bajpai, Milind Soman, and others have also supported the initiative.
About 2 lakh personnel-strong, CISF was raised in 1969. It guards 68 civil airports of the country apart from providing a counter-terrorist security cover to a number of facilities in the nuclear and aerospace domain, private sector and historical monuments like Taj Mahal and Red Fort.
