Tasks before new DG

Shankar Barua, a 1974 batch Indian Police Service officer, assumed office as the Director General of Police on August 31 and he is facing a challenging task ahead as he has assumed office at a crucial juncture with the Independence Day approaching and his first major task will be to ensure peaceful celebration of the Day all over the State. The militant groups always step up their acts of violence in the run up to the Independence and Republic Days to make their presence felt and the death of 13 women and children in a blast in Dhemaji on the Independence Day in 2004 is still fresh in the memories of all sections of people of Assam. Of course, the militant groups are keeping a low profile for some time, but the police and security forces should not be complacent and all possible steps must be taken to prevent the militants from indulging in any kind of violence during the run up to the Independence Day. The United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) and the anti-talk faction of the National Democratic Front of Boroland (NDFB) suffered severe setbacks in recent months as the police and security forces managed to eliminate or arrest a number of cadres, but the groups will definitely try their best to hit back and the police and security forces must take serious note of the reports of possibility of both the groups joining hands to create disturbance in the State. The DJD (J), commonly known as the Black Widow group, also suffered serious setbacks with the arrest of its chief Jewel Garlosa and killing of its foreign secretary Frankie Dimasa. These setbacks forced the outfit to declare a unilateral cease-fire to express its desire to come for talks, but the forces must keep a close watch on the situation and should not lower their guards.

Immediately after his appointment as the head of the police force, Barua said that building up team spirit in the force would be one of his main goals, which proved that he has started his tenure as a positive frame of mind. It is often said that a leader is as good as his team and strengthening the police force is a must to deal with the situation and to reduce the dependence on Central forces. Barua is also keen on improving police-public ties, which is a positive development as close ties with the common masses will definitely improve the functioning of the force. If the common masses can be brought closer to the men in uniform, it will also act as force multipliers and one should not forget that at one point of time, the citizens’ committees played a key role in helping the police in controlling crimes in Guwahati city. In the early part of this decade, the Assam Police launched several projects like “Prahari”, “Aaswas” etc to bring the men in uniform closer to the common masses, but unfortunately, over the years, due attention was not given to carry forward the project. The new head of the police force should look into the implementation of the projects and give those a new lease of life. ASSAM TRIBUNE