VIP cops don't do poll-related work

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal">PATNA: It is indeed a Sisyphean task for the Election Commission to conduct free and fair polls in Bihar. For the resistance comes not only from Naxalites and booth grabbers but also from policemen!<br /><br />Some 500 policemen, who are office-bearers of Bihar Policemen''s Association (BPA), are "generally" not deployed for poll duty as the police department feels these constables are so overworked with their association work that they must be sparingly used for official works.And still the department whines about inadequate police force for conducting elections!<br /><br />An organisation espousing the constabulary''s cause, BPA has about 500 office-bearers at the state and district levels. The BPA constitution stipulates the office-bearers must be posted within 8-km radius of the association''s unit headquarters. "When one office bearer was asked to attend his magazine duty, he shot back a letter to his officer, saying he would overlook the order," an IPS officer recalled, admitting BPA functionaries hardly do any official work. It has now become an open secret in police circles that the "police netas" don''t even participate in official flag-hoisting ceremonies. On August 15 last year, BPA functionaries allegedly instigated one BMP-10 constable to flout the orders of seniors to attend the flag- hoisting ceremony of the battalion, sources recalled, adding BMP-10 commandant Arwind Pandey has even sent a complaint to police headquarters, accusing the office-bearers of vitiating the atmosphere on campus. <br /><br />And what exactly do they do if not official duty? "One of their duties is to write missives, seeking transfers or particular postings for individual constables," said another IPS officer. This despite the fact that the Bihar Government Servants (Recognition of Service Association) Rules, 1960, explicitly states that the functionaries would not push for individual cases. "Fact is we frequently receive letters from BPA office-bearers, pressuring transfers and postings of constables," the officer said. BPA general secretary Arvind Kumar Yadav would not agree with "anything against the association". He claimed the association functionaries do go for election duty, albeit in emergency situations.<br /><br />As for flag-hoisting ceremony, he said the association organises its own flag-hoisting ceremony and the functionaries are expected to participate in it in plain clothes. <br /><br />"It''s an ''unwritten code'' which we have been following all these years," he said.<br /><br /><formid=526372></formid=526372></div> </div>