Outgoing DGP N. Ramachandran greets additional DGP Rajiv Mehta in Shillong on Wednesday. Picture by UB Photos

Shillong, Oct. 31: Outgoing director-general of police N. Ramachandran today said with a transparent recruitment process and modernised training, the state police would be the saviours of Meghalaya.

Ramachandran, a 1978 batch IPS officer of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre, demitted office today after having served as the state DGP for the last 13 months.

He had been in service for 34 years where he had also served in the prestigious Special Protection Group (SPG), the elite force which is mandated with the task of providing security to the Prime Minister, former Prime Ministers and their immediate family members, for 14 years.

Ramachandran had served eight successive Prime Ministers while he was with the SPG.

The current Nagaland director-general (prisons) Besesayo Kezo will take over as the new DGP later next month and additional DGP (law and order) Rajiv Mehta will be officiating as the DGP till Kezo assumes office.

“There was no external interference and the state government has been very supportive in recruitments that we were able to get the right people. This, coupled with modern training imparted to the men would make the police force a saviour of Meghalaya,” Ramachandran told reporters at the police headquarters here.

He also said the Rs 50-crore Meghalaya Police Academy could become a world-class training centre. The academy is still in the process of being setting up.

Ramachandran also said during his stint, the state intelligence, security and counter-insurgency wings were revitalised to make them more effective.

On militancy, especially in the Garo hills, he said this menace was a kind of cancer that has affected the state.

“The police are equipped and trained, and are ready to fight against militants. They will keep up the pressure on the militants and operations will be intensified. I am confident that the menace will be effectively dealt with by my successor,” he said.

On the much-talked politician-militant nexus, the outgoing DGP said, “We have come across certain politicians getting in touch with militants or vice-versa at an individual level. But we have not come across a pattern to link a political party with any militant group.”

Talking on police welfare measures, he said the living conditions of police personnel should be improved. The state government has come up with a proposal to construct housing complexes for the personnel and their families in the major locations like Shillong, Jowai and Tura, in the state.

This morning, while addressing the farewell parade at the Police Training School here, Ramachandran said, “It is time to put away the khakis and hang up my boots. But I do so with a great sense of fulfilment, happiness and pride.”