Bengal civic volunteer issue: The governor wants the chief minister’s view on 12 issues

INN/Kolkata, @Infodeaofficial

West Bengal Governor C.V. Ananda Bose has asked Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee for her thoughts on the Supreme Court’s critical remarks on the system’s use of civic volunteers in the state police force. The governor asked the chief minister’s view on 12 particular issues in a message posted on the “Raj Bhavan Media Cell” official X handle.

These include the total number of civic volunteers hired since 2021, the total amount paid to them, the legal authorisation for hiring civic volunteers, the government orders that authorised the hiring, the recruitment guidelines, the system for training civic volunteers prior to deployment, the departments where civic volunteers are assigned, the length of service, the total number of authorised positions in state government departments and the number of vacancies, the total number of government employees hired through an open recruitment system, and the reason for not filling permanent employee positions.

A civic volunteer named Sanjay Roy was recently named as the “sole prime accused” in the horrific rape and killing of a junior physician at R.G. Kar Medical College and Hospital.

The letter highlights a number of shortcomings in the state’s civic volunteer recruitment mechanism. Lack of legal power, unconfirmed hiring, political sway, poor training, little accountability, possible misuse, issues with qualifications, and a lack of transparency are a few of them.

The opposition parties in West Bengal have really been loud about the specific remark for a while now that civic volunteers are frequently perceived as being under political influence, which compromises their objectivity.

Regarding the R.G. Kar rape and murder tragedy, the governor has criticised the state authorities. The “hurried disposal of the body ignoring the wishes of the parents to retain it at least that day” was one of the questions raised in a statement released by the “Raj Bhavan Media Cell” in September of this year regarding the nature of the initial investigation conducted by Kolkata Police prior to the matter being turned over to the CBI.