DGP pulls up Intelligence officials

ABOUT 80 officers of the Intelligence Department, right from its top brass to DSPs of the Local Intelligence Units (LIU), were taken aback when DGP Yashpal Singh pulled them up for their ‘failure’ to gather timely intelligence.

The occasion was the first-ever meeting of the intelligence officers convened by Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav at the Yojana Bhavan here on Wednesday. It was for the first time that any Chief Minister called such a meeting and addressed them.

However, before the arrival of the Chief Minister, DGP Yashpal Singh gave a long but demoralising sermon to the officers dubbing the whole of the Intelligence Department as defunct, useless and a complete failure, particularly in dealing with terrorists. Singh admired the role of the STF despite the fact that it was a small unit in comparison to the Intelligence and had a limited role to play in investigations.

Quoting various incidents of terrorism, including that of Sankat Mochan Mandir in Varanasi, the DGP said that the Intelligence Department miserably failed to provide any prior information about the terrorists’ movements or their plan.

The officers were annoyed, mainly because  they are working in an appalling conditions. There is a lack of  infrastructure and the staff. But they were not in a position to raise objection when Yashpal Singh underlined the need for fixing responsibility and punishing the intelligence officials. He incurred the wrath of the officers when he said that the Intelligence officers should also be punished like that in the Civil Police and did not hesitate in recommending even suspension for the ‘guilty’ officers.

However, the Chief Minister praised the work being done by the Intelligence Department and expressed complete satisfaction at the prevailing law and order situation. But he laid stress on the need for better intelligence gathering, particularly on crimes related to politics. The Chief Minister urged the officers to make efforts for better and accurate intelligence.

The DGP’s tone changed soon after the Chief Minister left and he discussed the problems of the Intelligence officers and gave an assurance to solve them.

Principal Secretary (Home), Alok Sinha, directed the officers to submit a detailed report of their requirements as funds were available and their proposals would be cleared immediately.

The so-called special branch of the department, which is supposed to collect intelligence about terrorists movements in districts, consists of an SI and a constable, moves on private scooter/moped, has no telephone/mobile and works without an office. Acute shortage of petrol and diesel is a perennial problem and officials very often pay from their pocket for petrol. Two third of the total staff of the Intelligence Department work in the LIU directly under respective district administration while there was only a skeletal staff for the so-called special branch units and Special Cell which is supposed to gather information on terrorists, who have been using high-fi gadgets and mobile phones etc.

The meeting left a bad taste in the mouth of the officers, who were praised by the Chief Minister but criticised by the DGP.