BENGALURU: Five officers of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC), Bengaluru, including Additional Director General, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence (DRI), Amitesh Bahadur Singh and Additional Director, DRI, Bipin Kumar Upadhyay were conferred with the President’s award for Specially Distinguished Record of Service for 2021 and 2022 by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday. This is the first time the investiture ceremony was held in Bengaluru.
The other three officers from CBIC, Bengaluru, who were given the specially distinguished service award include Superintendent, Central Goods & Services Tax (GST), Mahesh Kumar, Senior Technical Assistant (Telecom) Customs, Prasanna VS Jois and retired Senior Investigation Officer, DRI, Krishnaveni.
Singh was earlier awarded the Finance Minister’s Gold Medal for Best Probationer, and the Certificate from the Secretary General, World Customs Organisation (WCO), for exceptionally meritorious services. Upadhyay has been involved in gathering intelligence and creating actionable inputs which resulted in seizures of contraband wildlife items, gold, fake Indian currency, foreign currency and over 11,000 kg of narcotic and psychotropic drugs.
In all, 53 officers of the CBIC and its field offices were awarded the Presidential Award of Appreciation Certificates, and medals for Specially Distinguished Record of Service for excellence in discharge of their duties for 2021-22.
Two officers -- Vipin Pal, Intelligence Officer, DRI, Delhi Zonal Unit, Jodhpur, and Albert George, IO, DRI, Cochin Zonal Unit -- were decorated with the President’s award for Exceptionally Meritorious Service for 2021.