THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Former state police chief T. P. Senkumar, who had last week attended a meeting convened by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, had advised him against the heavy security cover. He told him it was distancing him from the people and hence he should opt only for the ring round and some necessary security cover and avoid the ambulance on his convoy. Mr Vijayan sought to meet the former chief secretaries and director generals of police to know their perceptions on improving governance.
"In a state like Kerala having many hospitals, it is very awkward to see the CM travelling with an ambulance. The additional security cover is being arranged by some officials to please the government. But this is distancing the chief minister from the people," Mr Senkumar said in a set of suggestions he gave him.
One of the first decisions of the LDF government was to reduce security cover of the chief minister and ministers, especially avoiding pilot and escort vehicles. Even as he referred to the unpleasant experience he had to face from the LDF government, he noted that during his 55 days of service as SPC under the LDF government he did not face any difficulty from the side of the Chief Minister. A former DGP who attended the meeting said that it was indeed a good initiative on the part of the government to take opinions former officials on improving government's functioning. "The chief minister himself had taken note of the suggestions, and hence it seems that he is serious about them," he told DC.
Though there was no mention about political interventions in policing as well as transfer and postings, some ex-police chiefs suggested the implementation of the fixed tenure prescribed for officers. Mr Senkumar said in his set of suggestions that the activities of police association leaders in police stations should be curbed. He also said that there should not be any unofficial home minister between the CM and the SPC and the police officials should be allowed to function freely. Recruiting young officers as station house officers, the government directly collecting feedbacks from the police officials at the bottom levels, setting up the state State Security Commission to evaluate the force and imparting professional training to cops were among other suggestions came up.
