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New drill for Assam officials
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1060419/asp/northeast/story_6106666.asp |
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A STAFF REPORTER |
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Guwahati, April 18: To avoid another Kakopathar, Dispur is seriously contemplating a review of the "reorientation and sensitisation" of junior civil and police officials soon after a new government is installed in May. The all too frequent police firing on protesters that the state has witnessed of late has made the higher-ups sit up and take notice. The discussions so far have led to the conclusion that a concerted and focussed approach towards tackling ticklish and sensitive issues was more than necessary. Highly-placed sources said the exercise would be carried out even if there is a change of guard at Dispur after the election results are out. Those in the know cite the firing in Kakopathar that led to the death of nine persons and the one in Panigaon in Lakhimpur which saw three lives being lost as a cause of worry and embarrassment among the bureaucracy. The immediate embarrassment to the powers-that-be was the loss of face during the April 9 Guwahati One-day International (ODI). They contend that if the new government wants to provide good governance, it should spend time and money on training lower-rung officers and also implement in toto the recommendations of the J.K. Hazarika-headed Administrative Reforms Commission. The sources blamed the quality and focus of the reorientation and sensitisation programmes for lower-rung officers or those who directly deal with the public. Secondly, they also blamed the overburdening of the deputy commissioners (DC) with all sorts of activities in which case he loses sight of his priorities. "A DC needs to concentrate on law and order and day-to- day activities. Development should be left to the chief executive officers. If you compare Assam with Maharashtra, West Bengal or Uttar Pradesh, it is more than peaceful but still we are having to use force and resort to firing more often than not. Kakopathar happened despite prior warning about crowd trouble. "The crowd in the one-dayer started mildly before getting violent. The police could have been utilised in a better manner to quell the troublemongers before they went out of hand. There must be something seriously wrong somewhere and we need to fix it urgently," one of them said. As things stand today, IPS officers are sent to places like Sardar Vallabbhai Patel National Police Academy in Hyderabad or the Lal Bahadur Shastri Academy of Administration in Mussorie for their reorientation while the lower-rung officers go to the Dergaon Police Training Centre and also to various battalion headquarters. "A school of thought believes that the time has come to expose the junior officers to high-quality reorientation and sensitisation. Since we cannot send everyone out, we can invite the faculty from the leading institutions to do the job and with the passage of time even build our own capacities," a senior official said. |
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