GUWAHATI, Sept 4 � All the police stations in Guwahati will finally have separate and dedicated wings for crime investigation and law-and-order duty by the end of this year, Home Department sources said. Plans are also afoot to further strengthen the Crime branch of the Guwahati Police.
The bifurcation initiative has proved fruitful for four crucial police stations in Guwahati where it was executed on a trial-and-error basis since April this year, necessitating its replication. The police stations� areas are Dispur, Basistha, Panbazar and Jalukbari.
Bifurcation of thana-level police officers has been a long-standing demand to improve the standard of policing across the State, which from time to time has come under severe criticism.
The Home Department has approved the bifurcation plan for the entire policing set up in Guwahati under the supervision of Senior Superintendent of Police Anand Prakash Tiwari, who recently had a meeting with the Chief Minister on the matter.
As per the plan on hand, bifurcation of police officers in all the police stations will take shape once the first phase of recruitment is done. The recruitment process is expected to begin soon.
�Under the existing scenario, thana-level police officers remain engaged in law-and-order duty for most part of the day. They hardly get time to properly investigate cases. It also leaves a telling effect on their health. The new bifurcation plan would ensure effective policing and time-bound investigation. In police stations like Dispur and Paltan Bazar, a single officer is looking after over 300 cases at a time, which defies any logic,� sources said.
Dispur police station alone accounts of nearly 30 per cent of the total cases registered annually in the capital city.
�The police stations where the plan was executed on a trial basis have shown good results. As per the bifurcation plan, the entire investigation team of a police station would be headed by a police officer, may be of the rank of a DSP, and they will be exposed to the latest investigating modules from time to time,� a senior Assam Police official told The Assam Tribune, requesting anonymity.
�Distribution of manpower following the recruitment process would be done on a priority basis. Police stations like Dispur, Paltan Bazar, Basistha and Jalukbari which record the most number of cases would be the focal attention of the plan,� the official said. The bifurcation plan, according to the Home Department sources, will also be replicated in a phased manner in other parts of the State, starting from major towns.
