Governor pats but finds loopholes on cops' 118th B'day
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, October 19 2010: The 118th Raising Day of Manipur Police was celebrated at the parade ground of I Bn Manipur Rifles here today.

The impressive function was attended by Governor Gurbachan Jagat as chief guest.

The Governor inspected the Raising Day parade and received the salute of the march past contingents.

He also presented DG Recommendation Disc and letters to 40 police personnel.

Deputy Speaker of Manipur Legislative Assembly Thokchom Lokeshore, Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh, his Council of Ministers and top officials of Civil and Police were also present at the occasion.

Speaking as chief guest of the function, Governor Gurbachan Jagat observed that since it was first raised as the State Military Police in 1892, Manipur Police has been serving the people of the State with devotion, courage, conviction and professionalism.

Governor Gurbachan Jagat inspecting the guard of honour

In spite of enormous challenges over the years on many fronts of internal security, particularly insurgency, the Manipur Police has been able to cope with it despite constraints and it has successfully moved with the times, he added.

The Governor pointed out that today's militants are equipped with sophisticated weapons and technological tools, and have acquired expertise and new modus operandi.

It is, therefore, no mean achievement for the State Police to have successfully combated the menace of militant activities with the help of other security forces.

The Governor said that he is happy to note that the law and order situation in Manipur has been showing encouraging signs of improvement and he has been given to understand that during the last few years, the number of violent incidents has shown a downward trend, and casualties suffered by security forces have come down significantly.

However, although the violence has been considerably controlled, yet the incidents of kidnapping, abductions, extortion, throwing of hand grenades, etc, have gone up, he noted.

He expressed concern that the level of extortions has gone up considerably and the UGs do not spare the common public or the Government agencies from this activity.

As a result, the money which should be utilised for development works is being diverted by the UGs and thus, the people suffer because of lack of development.

The so-called protectors of the people have now turned against the people and are eating away the resources meant for the people, he said, and expressed confidence that the State police would be able to tackle this menace with the help of other security agencies.

On the developmental programmes being taken up for the State Police, the Governor said that with generous help from the Government of India, the Police Department has embarked upon a massive expansion and modernisation programme.

Over 10,000 officers and other ranks have been recruited recently to meet shortfalls in manpower.

He went on to say that with funds released under Special Plan Assistance (SPA) and Modernisation of State Police Forces (MPF), significant development of infrastructure has taken place.

The Manipur Police Training School has been upgraded to a Training College.

A good number of Police Station buildings, fencing, barracks and training infrastructure have been constructed.

Thirty-four new police stations, including nine women's police stations, one especially for dealing with economic offences, have been sanctioned.

Sophisticated weapons, scientific and latest technological equipments like vehicle mounted jammer, state-of-the-art bomb detection squad and disposal gadgets have been procured and procurement of 40 mm multi-grenade launchers, more vehicle-mounted jammers, Cell phone jammers, GPS location finding equipments, etc is in the offing.

To sanitise the Loktak lake and provide a secure environment, the Government is also procuring three hovercrafts by the year end.

Over and above this, to bolster its intelligence gathering and sharing mechanism, the State Police has set up a Subsidiary Multi Agency Centre (SMAC).

Further, Crime & Criminals Tracking & Networking Systems (CCTNS( has been taken up as a pilot project by the State Police under the aegis of Ministry of Home Affairs for improving the overall efficient of the police through the application of information technology with provisions for citizen-friendly services and interface, the Governor said, while hoping that with all these developments, the State Police would be confident and better equipped to respond to the call of duty in the years ahead.

Nonetheless, he noted that 'due to long feudal traditions in our country, the Government employees, particularly the police have been feared and hated and during the last over 60 years of independence, we are yet to remove this stigma'.

''It is the responsibility of all of us, especially those in the police force to ensure that we have a respected rather than a feared force'', he exhorted the gathering, and added 'The force needs to be oriented to a more citizen friendly one and I am confident that the present leadership will provide the road map towards it' .

In his address, DGP Yumnam Joykumar Singh said that the State Police has now the full confidence of fighting the insurgency.

''On account of insurgency, many of our officers and personnel have lost their lives'', he added.

Pointing out that the strength of State police in 1892 was just 464 and now it has a total sanctioned strength of 33,575, the DGP said that with the changes that has come about in the last few years, the State police is now fully confidence of ending the problem of insurgency.

The State Police has also been trying to instill the quality of humaneness to its personnel.