Guwahati, April 17: Dispur will recruit more than 600 personnel for a new India Reserve Battalion (IRB) and cleared a proposal to fill up the posts of 3,000 constables and 250 drivers in the police force to bolster counter-insurgency operations.

According to a highly placed home department source, the 675 jawans of the new IRB will be deployed in militancy-ridden Karbi Anglong district early next month.

Dispur has also cleared police headquarters’ proposal to fill up the posts of constables and drivers.

“The basic requirement to win any war is to have an adequate number of soldiers. All these years in our fight against insurgency, one of our weak links was shortage of manpower. Now that the state government has decided to fill up the vacant posts and raise a new IRB battalion, it will help a lot in counter-insurgency operation as well as in regular policing,” said a senior police official.

The IRB would be given special commando training and deployed mainly for counter-insurgency operations in Karbi Anglong, the official added. “We have not yet decided where the new recruits will be imparted commando training. It could be at Mandakata near here.”

Dispur is also positively considering a proposal of the police headquarters to recruit around 200 sub-inspectors. Besides this, some ex-servicemen were also being engaged specifically to provide security to railway and road projects in North Cachar Hills.

The creation of a special task force, increasing the number of police stations and outposts and streamlining of river police were some of the other measures initiated by Dispur to strengthen the force.

A meeting of senior home department and police officials is likely tomorrow to discuss the modalities of raising the special task force.