Kolkata, (Samajweekly) On the first day in office in her third term as the Chief Minister of West Bengal, Trinamool Congress supremo Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday effected a major reshuffle in the police hierarchy, transferring 29 top officers, mostly bringing back policemen to their former positions who were transferred by the Election Commission during the recently concluded Assembly polls.
Among the top-level officers who have been brought back to their former positions are Director General Virendra, ADG (Law and Order) Jawed Shamim, and DG (Security) Vivek Sahay.
Virendra, who was transferred by the EC and Neeraj Nayan Pandey was brought in his place as DG, has been brought back to his former position. Pandey has been transferred as DG (Fire Services).
Similarly, ADG (Law and Order) Jagmohan has been transferred to civil defence and Jawed Shamim, who was transferred by the Commission alleging police excess during a Left rally at Nabanna, has been reinstated as the ADG (Law and Order).
In a separate order, Vivek Sahay, the former DG (Security) who was removed by the Commission alleging lapse in security arrangement of the Chief Minister after she was injured during campaigning in East Midnapore, has been brought back to his former position.
Gyanwant Singh, who worked as ADG (Security) during the elections, has retained his post and has been given the additional charge of ADG and IGP of Armed Police.
Another transferred officer, Sanjaoy Singh, who was Officer-on-Compulsory-Waiting, has been posted as ADG and IG of Western Range.
On Wednesday morning, Banerjee had indicated that she was not happy with the inefficiency of the police in different areas.
“The administration was not under my control for the last three months. It was under the control of the Election Commission. There was some inefficiency. We will take decisions regarding this soon.”
Later in the day, she said, “DG Virendra and Jawed have been brought back to their old positions. The DG will retire this month only, but he is back.”
In addition to this, the state home department has made some significant transfers like bringing back Monoj Verma as the Commissioner of the Barackpore Commissionerate. Verma was transferred from Barrackpore and was made IG of CIF by the EC.
Similarly, Mitesh Jain, who was made the Commissioner of Asansol-Durgapur Commissionerate, has been sent to compulsory waiting, bringing Ajay Thakur in the post. Tahkur is presently posted as DIG, CID, in state police.
Two more commissioners were transferred. Gourav Sharma, presently working as Commissioner of Chanadannagar Commissionerate, has been transferred to the Siliguri Commissionerate as Commissioner, while Arnab Ghosh, presently posted as member secretary of West Bengal Police Reform Board, has been made the Commissioner of Chandannagar in Sharma’s place.
Mukesh, DIG, Barasat Range, has also been posted as Officer on Compulsory Waiting.
Interestingly, the Mamata Banerje-led government has transferred SPs of 16 districts, including Sundarban Police District, Purulia, Cooch Behar, Alipurduar, Jalpaiguri, Baruipur Police District, East Midnapore, Howrah, Jangipur Police District, Krishnanagar Police District, Ranaghat Police District, East Burdwan, Jhargram, Diamond Harbour Police District and South Dinajpur.
These include some officers who were transferred by the EC during the elections.
Bhola Nath Pandey, who was transferred by the EC following the attack on BJP President J.P. Nadda’s convoy in Diamond Harbour, has been made the SP of Alipurduar.
K. Kannan, who was sent to OCW during the elections, has been made the SP of Cooch Behar, while Soumya Roy, who was transferred following the controversy of his wife contesting the elections, has been brought back as the SP of Howrah (Rural).
