Aurangabad Police Constable becomes the first policeman from Maharashtra to scale Mt Everest
Rafiq Shaikh, a police constable from Aurangabad recently scaled Mount Everest in his third attempt. Born in a small village in the district, Shaikh had failed to climb the world’s tallest mountain peak twice due to natural calamities and predicaments thereafter.
Shaikh, who had begun the expedition on April 4 from here, scaled Mount Everest today, sources from police department said. According to sources, he scaled the peak from the Sherpa south pole, situated at a height of 26,240 feet. Aurangabad Commissioner of Police Amitesh Kumar congratulated Shaikh on his achievement.
Soon after the news broke out, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis congratulated him and posted Shaikh’s photograph on his social networking website twitter.
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This, however, was not his first attempt. After an unsuccessful journey till one of the Everest base camps last year, Rafiq and his fellow mountaineers narrowly escaped an avalanche, caused as a result of the deadly Nepal earthquakes. But this setback could hardly crush Rafiq’s spirit as he promised to return a year later, and he remained true to his words, indeed.
His parents and colleagues are very proud. We were very happy when we were told that our children have reached Everest, said his father Tahir Patel. Rafiq’s boss, the Superintendent of Police of Aurangabad, Navinchandra Reddy said,
He used to practice mountaineering on duty too. When he was on duty in Khultabad, he would seek permission from seniors in case he had some problems, but would always continue with his training.
Aurangabad police commissioner Amitesh Kumar also congratulated Shaikh for his contribution to the police force and said,
Our officer Rafiq Shaikh have made the entire state and the police force feel proud of him. He has achieved this success after excessive hard work and dedication and we congratulate him for making Maharashtra police force proud.
