GUWAHATI, Sept 25 - Special Police Officers under the banner of the Special Police Officers� Welfare Society today staged a sit-in demonstration at Last Gate here demanding permanent appointment of all SPO personnel in the 3rd battalion of the Assam Industrial Security Force (AISF).
In a memorandum addressed to Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal, the protesters opposed the State government move to recruit only 145 SPO personnel in the first and second battalions of AISF. Rather, the protesters said, the State government should follow the rules through which personnel of the Assam Tea Protection Security Force (ATPSF) had been appointed in the Assam Industrial Security Force.
The erstwhile Congress-led State government had recruited those SPOs to work in the insurgency and riot-affected areas of Assam. But, on June 6, 2015, the then government released them from duty as the situation turned normal in Assam. As the State government had offered jobs to the members of the pro-talk militant groups like Dima Halom Daogah, those Special Police Officers had also raised the demand for re-appointment.
On September 20, 2013, the State Home Department had assured to appoint them in the Assam Industrial Security Force. However, this promise remains unfulfilled, the aggrieved SPOs alleged.
