Guwahati, Jan. 18: Assam police are peeved with Dispur for its alleged dilly-dallying over the process of banning the Adivasi National Liberation Army (ANLA) which is posing a serious threat to the state’s security by establishing links with Maoist outfits in Jharkhand.

A senior police officer today said Dispur was yet to be “fully convinced” about the outfit’s threat potential. It was more concerned about the possible political fallout of any tough stand against the outfit among the tea tribes, traditionally a Congress votebank.

Protocol requires Dispur to make a formal recommendation to the Centre to ban the outfit. But the process has slowed down on the pretext of preparing a dossier of the outfit to be presented before the home ministry.

The process should not require more than a fortnight to complete. But more than a month has elapsed since the government had agreed in principle to ban the outfit. The special branch of the state police was asked to prepare the dossier a couple of days’ back.

The main argument for banning the outfit is that it would help the police crack down on the overground sympathisers and linkmen of the organisation. But the political bosses in Dispur have now reportedly developed cold feet to take the tough decision of empowering the police.

“Now that the dust over last year’s Adivasi uprising in Beltola has settled down, the government has gone back into the status-quo mode,” the police officer said.

Additional chief secretary P.P. Verma, who was asked to conduct the inquiry into the incident, was yet to submit the report. He was supposed to submit the report on December 10. Verma has not sought any extension either, a home department official said.