[Assam] VIP Security Cult

[kamal deka]

I am at one with the view expressed by the following editorial of The
Sentinel in regard to the security cover of the politicians/bigwigs,
categorised as VIPs.
Why do these VIPs including those who have demitted office need more
security than the common man who is increasingly exposed to criminality and
law-and-order problems.Many of these protected persons don't face the kind
of threat that warrant security cover they are given.Sometimes,the personal
security cover smacks of a show of power.
I was surprised to see a policeman who was forced to carry bag of groceries
of the VIP " mem sahib " as a part of his duty to protect ' Who is Who'.
BTW, these so-called VIPs should not have special lounge for them at the
airports.They should stand in a queue just like others and go through normal
security drills.What's your take,folks.
KJ Deka


   * PSO culture: Tarun Gogoi must answerd to the*

: By our Staff Reporter
GUWAHATI, Feb 9: When bomb blasts in the State are a routine feature and
people have no security whatsoever as to whether they would even return home
safe, the State Government has deployed about 1,000 personal security
officers (PSOs) to protect a whole lot of so-called VIPs in Guwahati (apart
from ministers) for whom there is absolutely no threat perception but who
seem to require such security just because they want to show that they have
a higher social status. All this is happening at the cost of the State
exchequer, while ordinary citizens are to fend for themselves in an utterly
insecure environment. If this is not the defeat of democracy, what else is?

Perhaps this realization has dawned upon the State DGP. He has now requested
the State Home Department to review the allocation of PSOs/ house guards to
the VIPs, retired IAS and IPS officers, businessmen, politicians, some
so-called media barons and SULFA men. Dearth of an adequate number of police
personnel for counter-insurgency operations has badly affected the fight
against militancy and terrorism in the State.
A large number of policemen who are supposed to be engaged for the security
of the common people are used as PSOs. In Guwahati alone, apart from the
PSOs provided to the ministers, about 1,000 police personnel are used as
PSOs of VIPs, retired IPS/IAS officers, businessmen and some so-called media
barons. There are many in the State for whom PSOs are a mere status symbol.
There are many retired IAS and IPS officers who continue to get PSOs/house
guards even seven or eight years after their superannuation though they do
not face any security threat. Why? Is it not a drain on the State exchequer?
Same is the case with others in question who simply cannot stay without PSOs
even though they do not face any security threat. Why? Is it not at the cost
of the security of ordinary citizens?
Every district of the State has a committee headed by the SP to look after
the security threat of the applicants for PSOs. PSOs are provided to the
applicant based on the report of the panels headed by the SP.
The PSO syndrome has affected the State police force both in terms of
strength and psychology, since a large number of policemen are used as PSOs
and cannot adjust themselves with other police duties that require more
agility and presence of mind. Most of these PSOs gradually forget whatever
they have learnt during the course of their training.
Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, who also holds the State Home portfolio, must
explain to the people as to why his administration has set such a perverse
and undemocratic precedent of PSO culture in a State where terrorism visits
every other day and where the people are left unprotected despite the many
threats.