One of the coveted police posts in the state seems to suit only a few.
The past year has witnessed seven IPS officers crowning the post of Patna superintendent of police (SP) but then losing it in a very short time.
The position, which requires the maximum amount of field work and coordination among the IPS officers, is being tagged with the word 'jinxed' by many officers who add that the constant transfers has shaken the law and order condition of the city.
'Patna, being the state capital, is the most important among all districts. The Patna SP's post is very crucial since the responsibility of law and order in Patna virtually is the officer's responsibility. The SSP's post is mainly administrative and the same can be said about the DIG and the IG. It is the SP who has to mainly coordinate with the SHOs, command operations and has to ensure that the law and order state of the district is smooth. Since a year now, the post has been shuffled between many IPS officers. We have now started to call the post 'jinxed',' an officer said on condition of anonymity.
'Last year, so many IPS officers saw themselves given the post and then removed after a short span. Things were never like this before (see chart). One can see that no year has been as tumultuous as 2014,' another officer said.
At present, Chandan Khuswaha (2010-batch) holds the post of Patna SP (central) while Rajeev Mishra (2010-batch) and Sudhir Porika (2010-batch) are SP (east) and SP (west), respectively.
Director-general of police (DGP) P.K. Thakur blamed his officers only for the transfers. 'Patna is a key place for policing. First, it is the state capital with all the VIPs living here. The officers have a lot of fieldwork to do and paper work as well. A cop here has to do many things - from crime control to looking after the VIP movements,' Thakur said.
Thakur added that the headquarters had decided upon the stay of Ashish Bharti as the Patna SP last year. 'But Ashish had to go for his three-month foundation training - mandatory for all IPS officers. Festivals like Durga Puja, Dussehra, Chhath and others were approaching at the time he left and we could not keep the SP's post empty. Hence, Manavjeet Singh Dhillon was temporarily made the SP considering the festivals. At the same time, Shivdeep Lande was returning to field after serving as the ADC to governor. A tragic turn of event with the Gandhi Maidan stampede got Dhillion removed,' he said.
'The problem started after Satyaveer Singh was made the SP. He said he had been in-charge of independent districts and thus did not wish to be in Patna. So, Satyaveer was removed and Lande was made the SP. He too had the same issue. He had requested for an independent district and had delayed his joining too. During the same time, Rajeev Mishra, who had earlier been posted as SP (traffic) had come back after completing his training along with Ashish Bharti. The state had also got Sudhir Porika, a fresh IPS officer. So, both of them were posted at SP (east) and (west) while Lande was given the charge of SP (central),' Thakur added.
The DGP said the frequent transfers were just not the only reason for the increase in crime. 'The number of cases being reported has gone up all across the state,' he added.
