Agency cops urge govt for posting to plain areas

Visakhapatnam: Policemen posted in the Maoist-infested areas have urged the state government to intervene and give them postings to urban areas at the earliest. They said that being under continuous pressure and threat to life is taking a toll on their mental well-being let alone the difficulty in getting brides.Even top police officials have been urging the state government to extend their jurisdiction in the plains so that they can accommodate some of the personnel, who have been serving in the Agency areas for more than five years, sources said.Visakha Agency has 11 mandals with a population of around 6 lakh and most of them are infested with naxals. Working in the Agency areas is a challenging task for any officer as these places have a lack of proper transportation, medical facilities and not to mention continuous Maoist movement posing a threat to their lives, a senior officer involved in anti-naxal operations told TOI.According to sources, Visakha rural has 43 police stations with over 2,500 personnel, including armed reserve and other special forces apart from civil police. Of these, 17 stations are in Maoist-infested areas and house around 700 personnel.Though the cops working in these 17 police stations get priority during transfers, increasing political interference has been proving costly to them as the rural police has lesser number of stations in plain areas like Anakapalli, Chodavaram, Payakaraopeta, S Rayavaram, Nakkapalli and Narsipatnam.Moreover, conversion postings from the AP Special Police to armed reserve and from there to civil police have also limited the opportunities for postings in the plains, sources said.With all these adverse situations affecting them, the Visakha Rural cops have requested director general of police JV Ramudu to extend their jurisdiction in the plain areas by adding some more stations. "We have asked the higher officials to include some portion of Pendurthi and the entire police station limits of Parawada into Visakha Rural as these areas have continuity to our limits. If we could get two more stations, then we can accommodate 100 personnel from the Agency," one of the senior Visakha Rural officers told TOI.However, the big question is will the city police commissioner be ready to give away certain areas from their jurisdiction. Definitely not, sources said, adding that no officer would want to reduce his/her jurisdiction. The Bheemili police station was under Visakha Rural police limits initially, but was later merged into the city police commissionerate."We have not asked for Bheemili. We have only asked for extension of our limits with a continuity of area at Pendurthi and Parawada, where our limits end. The authorities should take a decision on humanitarian grounds after considering the plight of the rural cops in the Agency," sources in police department said.