GUWAHATI:
Senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Gyanendra Prasad Singh took over as Director General Police (DGP) of Assam on the superannuation of Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta at Assam Police headquarters here on January 31.
Singh, an IPS officer of the 1991 batch, was the Special Director General of Police (Law & Order) and Special Director General of Police (Border) in addition to the Director of vigilance and Anti-Corruption.
Soon after taking over, Singh took to Twitter and wrote: “It has been my privilege to be associated with Sri Bhaskar J Mahanta IPS during the last 32 years. @assampolice has been honoured to bid you farewell formally at 8th APBn Abhayapuri, PTC Dergaon & 4th APBn Guwahati during the last few days. God bless you Sir.”
Addressing a press conference after taking over the charge, Singh said any inappropriate behaviour by police personnel towards the public will not be tolerated in the state police force.
Singh has previously worked in various positions in Assam Police and also national security agencies like National Investigation Agency (NIA) and Special Protection Group (SPG). He was brought back to Guwahati in December 2019 during the peak of the violent anti-CAA protest in the state.
“During my term, the state police would not only carry forward the ongoing operations against crimes and militancy, but I would personally take note of any complaint against police officials misbehaving with any citizen,” he also said.
“I am with 70,000 people working with us. I will try to address their issues within the next two years,” Singh said.
“I have many priorities as the DGP and firstly to gain respect for all the police personnel of Assam Police. The police personnel should make sure that the people of the state do not face any issues,” Singh said.
“However, bad behaviour will not be tolerated in Assam Police,” Singh said when asked about inappropriate behaviour shown by a section of police personnel towards the public.
“I also feel that women police personnel face various challenges when they are deployed in police stations or elsewhere, due to lack of proper toilet facilities. Many women police personnel are facing hygienic problems due to this. I aim at providing safe bathrooms and safe toilets to all the women police personnel wherever they are deployed,” Singh also said.
“During my last three year’s service in the state, I noticed that there is no platform for the public to contact the senior police officials in the headquarters. So very soon I will chalk out a plan where the public can directly interact with officials, at least in the superintendent of police officers if the local police leadership has not resolved any public issue. Every working day a senior police official will devote some time in interacting with the public to address their grievances at SP offices across the state,” the DGP said.
“Our social media platforms will be very active and all the complaints and queries of the public in social media will be immediately addressed by a team of officials,” the DGP also said.
“Digitisation of data is another top priority for me as DGP. There will be digital platforms from where public utility services can be directly provided to the public,” he said.
The DGP claimed that the police-public ratio is satisfactory in the state as the state government has recruited more than 15,000 police personnel in the last one and a half years.
“Now the vacancy position in Assam Police is only 2 to 3 per cent whereas it is 20 to 30 per cent in other states of the country,” he added.