Bengal govt changes four commissioners for Bidhannagar Police in as many days

india

Updated: May 30, 2019 15:09 IST

The West Bengal government has once again changed the commissioner of Bidhannagar City Police (BCP) on Wednesday, the fourth time since May 26. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee is in charge of the police department.

On May 26, Gyanwant Singh, who was removed by the Election Commission of India before the Lok Sabha polls, was reinstated as BCP commissioner.

Next day, the state government issued another order replacing Singh with Nishat Parvez, who was with the deputy inspector general (operations) of the Criminal Investigation Department of Bengal Police.He didn’t last either. On May 28, Parvez was also replaced by the Commissioner of Siliguri City Police, Bharat Lal Meena.

On May 29, Bharat Lal Meena was told to go back to his previous posting and Laxmi Narayan Meena was named the Bidhannagar city police chief. Meena was earlier the commissioner of Asansol- Durgapur City.

The government also changed the commissioner of Barrackpore City Police twice in four days. On May 26, Devendra Prakash Singh was appointed as the head of Barrackpore City Police.

However, on May 29, Singh was replaced by Tanmay Ray Chaudhuri, who was the commissioner of Howrah City Police.

Opposition leaders did not lose the opportunity to mock the chief minister.

BJP Bengal unit vice president Jay Prakash Majumdar said the development indicates extreme panic. “She (Mamta Banerjee) cannot trust anyone in the police department. Therefore, a decision is taken in the morning and is changed in the evening,” Majumdar said.

“Psychologists say that when one stares at inevitable defeat, people get unnerved and do things that defy logic. This syndrome is inevitable in the chief minister. In fact, she may change her decision tomorrow again,” said Congress legislator Abdul Mannan.

Incidentally, Bidhannagar, popularly known as Salt Lake, is a satellite township adjacent to Kolkata. Elections to Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation is scheduled to be held in 2020. Currently, the civic body is controlled by the TMC.

In the notification issued on Wednesday, a total of eight Indian Police Service officers were transferred. In another notification also issued on Wednesday, the state government made a minor bureaucratic reshuffle, where district magistrates of Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri and North 24 Paraganas were changed.