Assam River Police: It Looks Like Nobody’s Baby

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The seriousness is shown by the successive governments at Dispur in checking infiltration of foreigners into the State and other cross-border crimes has been grossly out of sync with action taken on that front. The negligence meted out to the river police organization by the successive governments at Dispur smacks of it in no uncertain term.

The river police organization was set up in Assam in 1979 to prevent illegal infiltration into the State through the riverine routes of the Brahmaputra from Bangladesh, detect and keep surveillance of unauthorized boats/engine boats, maintain vigilance on extremist/antisocial activities and smuggling of goods on the riverine routes and the sar areas of the Brahmaputra, and maintain law-and-order in the sar areas of the Brahmaputra among others.

The manpower front in the river police organization depicts what this important branch of the State police force is exactly like. According to river police sources, to man the four river police stations and seven outposts the organization has only 35 constables against 104 sanctioned posts, only one sub-inspector against nine sanctioned posts and only one boatman against ten sanctioned posts.

The organization has just seven steel sal boats and no speed boats under its disposal to guard the entire riverine border stretch under its jurisdiction. When the need of speed boat arises, they have to hire private ones, sources in the organization said, and added: “Right now, the filling up of the vacant SI posts and that of constables is badly needed. Moreover, the organization has no women personnel. As and when we need to rescue women victims and deal with women criminals, we have to take them to general police stations with arrangements for lock-up for women.”

According to sources, the river police organization sent a proposal to the DGP for the recruitment of 25 women personnel in the organization. However, no response is forthcoming from the DGP.

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