Guwahati, Feb 20 : Dispur is rushing through the process of recruiting a fresh batch of constables to beat the poll code of conduct that will come into force once the notification for the general elections is issued.
The government has tied up all the loose ends and will issue a notification for the recruitment of 2,400 constables in the next few days.
Government sources said the process could not be delayed because it takes almost 18 months after the recruitment process starts for the personnel to be posted.
Dispur has also started the process for recruitment of 115 sub-inspectors.
Sources said the government was rushing the recruitment process as the police force was facing an acute manpower crisis because of increasing pressure of maintaining law and order, fighting terror and protecting VIPs. Given the crunch, Dispur has also started withdrawing personal security officers and house guards assigned to politicians and businessman.
Besides the poll deadline, another reason prompting the rush is the Centre’s instruction, given in November last year, that Dispur should double the strength of its police force, which is now 65,000, within five years on its own. The deadline will expire in 2013.
Dispur had told former Union home minister Shivraj Patil after the October 30 blasts that lack of adequate police personnel was a key reason for its failure to prevent blasts. It had cited the same reason at the security meeting convened by the Union home ministry in New Delhi on November 5.
“These things don’t happen overnight. It is a long-drawn process and we have to be cautious at every step. We cannot afford any delay since we need to increase our strength and the Centre has asked us to increase our police force by 50 per cent within five years. We have to space out the recruitment accordingly to meet the five-year target as we have to do it on our own,” the source said.
“Already we have lost valuable time after an earlier process (of recruitment) was challenged in court. We have taken extreme care to ensure that the process is not challenged (this time). Deserving candidates should only get selected,” he added.
Deprived candidates had challenged a constable selection process in 2004, leading to its cancellation by Gauhati High Court in 2006. It took almost three years for the case to be resolved. Finally on February 27, 2008, the Supreme Court upheld the appointment of 5,500 constables.
Dispur has recruited 8,650 constables and 360 sub-inspectors since 2007.
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