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Assam cops have AK-47s to fight, but no bullets: CAG 8 Mar 2009, 2040 hrs IST, TNN

GUWAHATI: At least 2,000 Assam Police personnel, who were engaged in fighting militancy, carried their AK-47s without ammunition for nearly two years. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in its 2007-08 report revealed the Assam Police did not receive the ammunition till March last year.

The CAG report tabled in the state legislative assembly on Saturday stated that during 2004-05, the ministry of home affairs supplied 2,000 AK-47s at a cost of Rs 1.60 crore without any ammunition. The police department, after a lapse of nearly two years, placed an order for the supply of 3,25,976 rounds of 7.62 mm x 39 ball ammunition for the AK-47s valued at Rs 96 lakh with the Ordinance Factory at Bharangaon.

But the ammunition was not received till March, 2008. The report further said that in September 2008, the DGP said the ammunition could not be collected due to non-receipt of delivery and non-availability of railway wagons.

The CAG report also revealed that the state police's preparedness and striking capability with sophisticated weaponry was not adequately addressed as the force is short of the required sophisticated arms, including AK-47s, SLRs, LMGs, carbines, pistols and rifle grenades, by varying figures of 23% to 100%.

The CAG pointed out that the detection of bombs and explosives decreased by 30% in 2007-08 compared to 2003-04, while cases of police casualties and bomb blasts increased by 42% in 2007-08 compared to 2003-04. It also observed that short procurement of bomb detectors and inadequate procurement of bullet-proof jackets could be among the factors that contributed towards the increase in bomb blasts and police deaths.

Assam Police, under the modernization of police force (MPF) schemes, got 5200 INSAS rifles worth Rs 13.06 crore from MHA, 1680 of which were withdrawn in December 2007 as the district police were not specially trained to handle the INSAS rifles.

These rifles are now lying unused at the district police headquarters, the CAG reported. Apart from these, the Assam Police also procured a Mahindra Scorpio and Tata Indigo, which are actually not allowed under the MPF scheme.

Not only that, the CAG found that 75 police stations and 55 police outposts are insecure because of a lack of boundary walls. Fifteen of these vulnerable police stations are in Guwahati.
Assam cops have AK-47s to fight, but no bullets: CAG

Comment: Other States cannot be different. The sad situation needs to be redeemed by regular rehearsals and training and properly equipping the Policemen.