2,000 Assam cops to get advanced military training

GUWAHATI: Soon Assam Police’s new age commandos will be battle-ready just like army commandos, fully capable of survival tactics, cordon and search operations (CASO), unarmed combat, field engineering and suchlike that are part of advanced military training.
Lieutenant General Dinesh Singh Rana, GOC Gajraj Corps, who formally launched the training programme at Narengi Army cantonment here on Friday, said, “The Indian Army and the Assam Police have jointly prepared the syllabus for the fresh recruits in such a way that they become capable of dealing with any situation and help maintain peace that is returning to the state.The learning module comprises both basic and advanced military training.”
In a first, more than 2,000 newly recruited police jawans are being currently trained by instructors drawn from various regiments of the Indian Army at seven locations in Assam and Meghalaya. On completion of their training, these jawans will be inducted into five new commando battalions.
The commandos will also be trained in cybercrime awareness, battle inoculation, raids, communication equipment handling, map reading besides training in the use of weapons such as an AK-47, INSAS rifle and INSAS LMG and hand grenades.
Assam currently has just one police commando battalion based at Mandakata and the commandos have been trained by NSG at Manesar in Haryana as well as by Punjab Police.
The GOC said the training of the new recruits, selected through a rigorous selection procedure by the Assam Police, will be conducted at seven locations – Thakurbari, Gerua, Narengi, Darranga and Misamari in Assam and Shillong and Umroi in Meghalaya. At Thakurbari, only the female commandos (288) will be trained.
Lt Gen Rana further said the Indian Army and the Assam Police have been jointly fighting insurgency in the state since the 90’s.
“The situation at the time of launching operation Bajrang in 1990-91 and Operation Rhino in 1991 was very different from what it is now. The joint operations have played a major role in restoring normalcy to a very large extent in the state,” he added.
Recalling the bravery of Ahom general Lachit Barphukan and the entire Ahom military, DGP Bhaskar Jyoti Mahanta exhorted the new recruits to prepare themselves through the training to serve the state as well as the country.