Chandigarh, May 4: The Punjab Police has drastically cut the security provided to politicians, police and civil officers, their relatives and civilians since the days of terrorism in the border state.The step has been necessitated largely in the wake of complaints of the misuse of security guards by most of the protectees, Director General of Police P C Dogra revealed today.
Against 9,000 policemen and special police officers who were on personal security duties a year ago, the number has come down to just 4,000 now and would be further reduced to 3,000 in a couple of months, he stated.
Dogra, who has undertaken a review of the deployment of security guards in various police ranges in Punjab, disclosed that on Saturday under his instructions the Ludhiana police pulled out 200 securitymen from those who no longer required them on genuine grouds. The change, he said, had also been prompted by the need to redeploy these policemen for duties such as maintenance of law and order.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.