GUWAHATI, July 3 � In a significant change in policy decision in regard to prisons� security, the State Government has decided to appoint a senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer as the chief of jails in Assam after a gap of nearly two decades. In the last two decades, the post of Inspector General of Prisons was held by a senior Assam Civil Service officer.
Further, the post has also been upgraded to the rank of Additional Director General of Police (ADGP) with the first choice for the post being Jyotirmoy Chakravarty, who is at present posted as the ADGP (Prosecution).
Chakravarty, who was recently transferred from the post of Guwahati Police Commissioner, will initially take the post as an additional charge, top official sources told The Assam Tribune.
Unlike Assam, almost all the States have IPS officers as in-charges of jail security. Haridas Kachari, an IPS officer, was the last IPS officer to occupy the post of IGP (Prisons) in early 1990s in Assam.
Sources further said that the Home department, in view of the recent cases of jailbreaks, has decided to go for a complete overhaul of the jail security and infrastructure.
The authorities at the helm of affairs are of the opinion that with a police officer in-charge of the jail security, it would be easy to improve the vigil both inside and outside the prisons in the State. �Better monitoring of the prisons is a priority,� sources said.
Meanwhile, when contacted, Home Secretary LS Changsan confirmed the development saying that a slew of measures will be introduced in the days to come to ensure better monitoring both outside and inside the jails.
�In view of the recent incidents of jailbreaks, we are trying to plug the holes, vis-�-vis manpower, medical facilities or for that matter, other infrastructure issues,� Changsan said.
It needs mention that the Chief Minister after the recent incident of jailbreak at Diphu had directed Assam Police chief Khagen Sarma to come with a detailed plan on jail security.
