Himanta Sarma's Big Police Reform Drive: VRS To 300 Cops For 'Habitual Drinking'

Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma said that police department has been suffering in terms of efficiancy due to such officials.

At least 300 Assam Police officers, who are "habitual drinkers", will be given the option of voluntary retirement, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on Sunday. According to him, those police personnel drink too heavily and that is adversely affecting their service. People have serious complaints against such police personnel, he added. Sarma said that the procedure has already started, and new hiring will be done to fill these 300 positions. "Around 300 officers and staff in the state police department are habitual drinkers, and their bodies have suffered as a result. For them, the government maintains a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS). They will be given that," he said. He further said that the rules were already there for such "offenders". "It is an old rule, but we had not implemented it earlier," Sarma, who also holds the Home portfolio, told reporters on the sidelines of a programme here.

The Chief Minister further claimed that he is also trying to decentralise the government, and he has started the procedure for opening offices with power and responsibilities that were once held by the Deputy Commissioners` office in each of the state`s 126 Assembly constituencies. "We are working to make the Deputy Commissioners` office accessible in all areas in an assembly constituency so that people don`t have to drive to the district headquarters for many official works," he said. "The Deputy Commissioners will look after law and order, and they will be given different responsibilities," he added. The Assam government is mulling a major overhaul of the administration and is set to convert each district in the state to administrative and economic units.

The massive alteration in the state administration will begin as the BJP government in the state led by Sarma is set to complete two years in May. The Chief Minister has called for a three-day meeting with the District Commissioners to discuss the revamp issue. It has been scheduled to occur between May 12 and 14 in Tinsukia district.