The Hindu : Karnataka News : Officers not enthusiastic to head ANF

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Tuesday, Jul 15, 2008
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Karnataka

Karnataka

Officers not enthusiastic to head ANF

Jaideep Shenoy

The risks involved are cited as reason

Two SPs are heading on-field operations
Post of commander reserved for
IPS official

MANGALORE: The reluctance of police officers to head the on-field operations of the Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) has put the State Government in a fix.

The Government in the recent major reshuffle of around 40 IPS officers appointed B. Dayananda, Deputy Inspector-General of Police, as commander of the nearly 500-strong force.

Rethink

However, indications are that the Government may rethink on the posting, given that the police top brass has represented to the State Government against posting the official to the ANF.

Mr. Dayananda took charge as DIG (Fire and Emergency Services) recently.

Home Minister V.S. Acharya told The Hindu that the Government was committed to strengthening the ANF and wanted a suitable police officer to be its commander.

Representation

Noting that the move to appoint Mr. Dayananda as commander, ANF, was a step forward in that direction, the Minister, however, admitted that the Government had received a representation from the police top brass against shifting the official to ANF, that is based out of Udupi district.

Presently, Karnataka state police officials – Ramdas Gowda and Subash Gudimani, Superintendents of Police, are supervising the on-field operations against naxalites in Chikmagalur and Udupi districts respectively.

They report to the Inspector-General of Police (Western Range) Ashit Mohan Prasad, who is now commander of ANF. Mr. Dayananda is an IPS officer.

Cadre post

Sources in the Police Department said the post of commander, ANF, was converted into a cadre post when the cadre posting review took place in December 2007.

This effectively means that the State Government should post an IPS officer to the post. The last person to hold charge of this post was Jaya Prakash Naik.

After Mr. Naik’s subsequent exit, the post was vacant and the responsibilities were shifted to the Inspector-General of Police (Western Range).

Risks

The sources pointed out that officers were not volunteering to take up the assignment of commander, ANF, given the hardships and risks involved.

“Non-availability of IPS police officials is also compounding the problem,” the sources noted.

Chain of command

The Government is also yet to spell out the chain of command in the case of the current appointment: whether the commander will report to the Inspector-General of Police or the Director-General and Inspector-General of Police.

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