At least 300 Assam Police officers, who are “habitual drinkers”, will be given the option of voluntary retirement, Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma announced on Sunday. According to them, those police personnel drink too much and this is adversely affecting their service. He said that people have serious complaints against such police personnel. Sarma said that the process has started and fresh recruitment will be done to fill these 300 posts. “Around 300 officers and staff in the state police department are addicted to drinking, and their bodies have suffered the consequences. For them, the government runs a Voluntary Retirement Scheme (VRS). They will be given that,” he said. Said. He further said that rules were already in place for such “criminals”. “It is an old rule, but we did not implement it earlier,” Sarma, who also holds the Home Ministry, told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.
The chief minister further claimed that he is also trying to decentralize the government, and has begun the process of opening offices of deputy commissioners with powers and responsibilities in each of the state’s 126 assembly constituencies. “We are working to make the office of Deputy Commissioners accessible in all zones in one assembly constituency, so that people do not have to go to the district headquarters for several official works,” he added. “The deputy commissioners will look after law and order, and they will be given different responsibilities,” he said. The Assam government is considering a major change in administration and is set to convert each district of the state into administrative and economic units.
The massive reshuffle in the state administration will begin when the Sarma-led BJP government in the state completes two years in May. The Chief Minister has called a three-day meeting with the District Commissioners to discuss the issue of rejuvenation. It is scheduled to take place from May 12 to 14 in Tinsukia district.