Female VDP members now

By our Staff Reporter

GUWAHATI, Sept 15: Now female village defence party (VDP) is becoming a reality in Assam with as many as 59 females chosen from various districts of the State coming out after the completion of their 15-day training.

The training that began at the central training institute for Home Guard and Civil Defence at Panikhaiti in Guwahati concluded on Friday.

State Chief Minister Sarbanda Sonowal did ask the Assam Police to include women as well in village defence parties and the training programme is a follow-up of the Chief Minister’s directive.

Taking part at the concluding function of the training programme, DGP Mukesh Sahay said: “Stress has been laid on village defence parties after a directive from the Chief Minister. We’ve taken steps to include women as VDP members so as to make it more vibrant. VDPs have been fighting against antisocial elements as awaken sentinels in rural Assam and extending a helping hand to the police. They also extend their help when there’re tural disasters in the State. Female VDP members have an important role to play in fighting superstitions, witch-hunting, human trafficking, drug paddling, bringing about awareness against crimil activities etc. I hope they’ll play their role effectively.”