Union home minister P. Chidambaram greets chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh during his recent visit to Imphal. Picture by Eastern Projections

Imphal, Feb. 9: Union home minister P. Chidambaram’s visit has helped to expedite the process of recruiting 1,550 members of the village defence force, earlier known as special police officers.

However, the fate of the special police officers (SPOs) recruited to protect Heirok village in Manipur’s Thoubal district last June still hangs in the balance.

Chidambaram, during his visit here on February 3, reportedly told chief minister Okram Ibobi Singh to speed up the process of recruiting the village force to help the police and to take a decision on the fate of Heirok SPOs.

Director-general of police Yumnam Joykumar Singh notified the recruitment of 1,550 village defence force (VDF) personnel on February 7, four days after the Union home minister’s visit.

The notice, inviting applications from candidates in the age group of 18-30 years, said the recruitment would begin at the headquarters of the four valley districts of Imphal West, Imphal East, Bishnupur and Thoubal on February 15.

Imphal West, Imphal East and Bishnupur will each get 350 VDF members for their police stations while Thoubal will get 500 personnel.

The Centre had already approved the request to recruit the forces but the home minister gave the final nod during his meeting with Ibobi Singh, who is also in charge of the home portfolio.

However, the state government is delaying the construction of barracks for the 301 SPOs recruited last year for the protection of Heirok. It is also yet to decide whether these recruits will remain a force for village protection or will be deployed in police stations as VDF members, an official source said.

“The government is expected to take a decision very soon,” he added.

The Ibobi Singh government took back the SPOs from the Manipur Police Training School on December 30, after they revolted by remaining on fast for two consecutive days.

The police had told the SPOs that they would get accommodation at two posts of the India Reserve Battalion in the village as a temporary arrangement until the barracks were constructed.

However, the SPOs are now staying at their homes and no job has been assigned to them. They are given a monthly remuneration of Rs 3,000 each.

“We are staying at our homes. We attend fall-in (roll call) twice — at 6.30am and 4.30pm. Other than that, we do not do anything. We have not been given any assignment. We have been told to wait for a government decision,” an SPO said over phone from Heirok.

The SPOs are demanding that the government should take a decision without any delay.