Subject: 'austraLasia' #420

JULIO RIBEIRO TO RECEIVE MASCHIO MEMORIAL AWARD

Peter Gonsalves

MUMBAI: 14th September -- The Fr. Maschio Lifetime Achievement Award for Humanitarian services will be presented to Mr. Julio F. Riberiro, IPS Retd., Ex. Police Commissioner of Mumbai, on Saturday, 9 September in the Shrine of Don Bosco Madonna. The award presentation ceremony will follow soon after the 6.30 mass offered in thanksgiving for the late Fr. Aurelius Maschio, founder and patron of the Don Bosco Educational Works in Western India.

Mr. Julio Rebeiro has distinguished himself by being the "policeman with a heart" at the fore front of peace-keeping in India. He joined the Indian Police Service in 1953 and rose to be the Commissioner of Police, Mumbai between 1982 and 1985. Later he served in quick succession as Director General – Central Reserve Police, Director General of Police – Gujarat, Special Secretary to the Government of India’s Home Ministry, Director General of Police – Punjab and finally Advisor to the Governor of Punjab. Post Retirement, he was appointed Ambassador to Romania for four years between 1989 and 1993. On returning to Bombay, his home town, he has busied himself in community work, heading the Mohalla Ekta Committee of World Wide Fund for Nature. He is Chairman of both, the Happy Home and School for the Blind, and Bombay Mothers and Children Welfare Society. He is trustee of the Pragti Kendra and the Catherine Quinny Trust. He is Vice-Chairman of Sarvodaya International Trust – an organization dedicated to the spreading the teachings and thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi. In 1987 he was the recipient of the prestigious Padma Bhushan.

Fr. Maschio Memorial Award, given on September 9th, each year to mark the death anniversary of Fr. Aurelius Maschio, was established by the Bombay Salesian Society, the trustee of the Don Bosco Educational and Development activities in Western India. It is given to Indians who have excelled by their significant services to humanity. Some previous recipients of the award are Mother Teresa, Baba Amte, Kiran Bedi and Bishop Thomas Menamparabmil. Last year, the award was presented to Mrs. Gladys Staines on behalf of her late husband Graham Staines.