New Meghalaya DGP visits Garo Hills
TURA: Meghalaya Director General of Police (DGP) Rajiv Mehta has pointed out that insurgency in the Garo Hills region has been on the decline for the last three months even as he said operations against outfits and ultras would continue ‘aggressively’.
The new state police chief is on a two-day visit to the five districts of Garo Hills to meet with his officers and the force personnel fighting insurgents in the highly volatile region where the banned GNLA has a strong presence.
Interacting with journalists from the region at the 2nd MLP battalion headquarters in Goiragre, 15 kms from Tura, on Tuesday afternoon the DGP reiterated that Meghalaya police would leave no stone unturned to bring back normalcy and the rule of law into those areas where militants once ran their writ. “There will be no let up in operations against militants. We will pursue them aggressively,” said DGP Mehta.
The top police chief of the state who was accompanied by IGP G H P Raju said that insurgent activities have been on the decline in the last three months.
“Has there been an improvement on the ground due to the decline I cannot comment at the moment, but we are looking forward to it,” said the DGP.
When pointed out to recent claims by the banned GNLA absolving themselves of involvement in anti-social activities, the DGP commented that it would be indeed good news if insurgents come forward to join the mainstream and allow peace to prevail.
Taking queries from scribes, he said that an action plan is being prepared to deal with insurgents and added that rational deployment would be the answer to make up for shortage of force personnel.
The police chief said that complete progress is being made in the raising of a special commando group known as Special Force-10 (SF-10) which would soon give much needed teeth to security forces in their fight against militants in the Garo Hills region.
The Meghalaya DGP also expressed concern over rising crime along state roads and highways where criminals have of late been indulging in extortion, shootings and abductions.
When questioned about the negligent highway patrolling he replied, “Statistics show that police presence on roads is not high. There is manpower constraint. We have to take this on a priority.”
He also added that CCTVs would soon be installed in ten strategic locations of Tura town based on the recommendations of th