Bihar goes to the dogs

PATNA, March 24. — Mr Nitish Kumar’s Bihar is very fast going to the dogs. Apparently alarmed at both intelligence failure and frequent Maoist attacks, the state has advised the sheltering of street dogs in police stations and outposts for instant alerts.

The order has gone out from the police headquarters to divisional inspector-generals and district superintendents recently.

Sources say street dogs helped prevent Maoist attacks on police stations at Bharaundha and Chakandha in Gaya District in October, 1993, and January, 1997. The dogs barked so much policemen were obliged to bestir themselves. Mr Arun Paswan, who used to be the officer in charge of the Paraiya police station in Gaya, has come up with the idea, having saved his subordinates’ lives simply by feeding and sheltering as many as 36 street dogs.

The police department has asked superintendents also to store firecrackers in all police stations for nightly emergency use as an alarm call. The government has done little to modernise the force, as a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India reveals.

A scheme was devised but a performance review disclosed only a marginal impact in terms of infrastructure. Police’s striking capacity was not augmented as vehicles procured for extremism-influenced districts came to be deployed elsewhere.

Trouble-shooting skills could not be honed as there was no officer training academy in the state. According to an official report, 17 of Bihar’s 38 districts are rebels’ bastions, the worst-affected ones being Gaya, Auranagbad, Bhojpur, Jehanabad, Arwal, Kaimur, Rohtas, Nawad and rural Patna.

Central Bihar has a bloody past. Policemen in these places still rely on outdated weapons in contrast to the outlaws’ AK 47 and AK 56 assault rifles. Bihar police recently bought 18 trained sniffer dogs from the Indian Army’s remand and veterinary centre at Meerut for more than Rs 16.66 lakh. The dogs will detect landmines and explosives besides looking for criminals