HISAR: The president of the Haryana unit of the Janata Dal, Verendar Singh on Saturday, appealed to the state Chief Minister, Bhajan al, to convene an all-party meeting, to evolve a consensus on the issues concerning policemen. He was addressing a press conference here.
In case the Chief Minister was not inclined to hold an all-party meeting, He put forward two suggestions to resolve the crisis in the police force. The first was to ensure that the police was not misused by any Chief Minister in future to achieve his political goals. The second are examination of the police rules, which had become obsolete. He was in favor of making suitable deletions, amendments and additions to meet the current requirements.
Verendar Singh observed that the strategy adopted by the Bhajan al govt to deal with the police unrest reminded one of the medieval ages. The need of the hour was a sympathetic consideration of the police personnel’s demands and not the adoption of a stiff attitude, he said. The use of the CRPF to” discipline “the police in his view was condemnable and could have grave consequences.
Referring to the concessions for policemen by Bhajan Lal, the Janata Dal chief said though appreciable, these were insufficient and belated. The government tactics might yield a temporary respite, but these could not permanently resolve the problem.
Verendar Singh said while referring to the demand for recognition of the policeman’s union that many states in the country and several democratic countries, had recognized the right of the policemen to form a union, The issue could be delayed, but not for long. He appealed to the Chief Minister not to make it a prestige point and look at it keeping the interests of the state in mind.
Regarding the allegation that opposition leaders were fanning trouble, Verendar Singh said that it did not reduce the seriousness of the matter.
He complained that eight Scheduled Caste and Backward Caste boys of his constituency, who had undergone physical tests had not been called at Madhuban along with boys from other districts, He appealed to the director general of police to pay his attention to the matter 1o dispel the doubt about the fairness of the recruitment exercise.
Article extracted from this publication >> October 11, 1991
