Day: September 11, 2013

This post is in continuation of This is India ! Series (see here)

In Bangalore, a senior police official has been writing letters to himself for over two months. On 1 July, Bhaskar Rao, the Inspector General of Police (IGP) of Karnataka Police’s Internal Security Division (ISD) was given the additional charge of the Training Department. Ever since, whenever interaction between the two departments is required, Rao writes an official letter to himself in the other department.

His two offices are located in different parts of the city, the ISD office on Richmond Road and the Training Department on Palace Road. After Rao writes a letter to himself as IGP, ISD, he visits his Palace Road office to respond to it. Two days after this news appeared in a city newspaper, he is unable to understand why his actions have been found odd. “This is not a corporate office where, as the head of two departments, I can just take a decision. Here, a procedure needs to be followed,” he says. Rao adds that when he is relieved of the Training Department, such correspondence will keep his successor abreast of pending work.

There is a shortage of high-level officers in the Karnataka Police. Apart from Rao, a number of other officers also have dual posts. For instance, Rao points out, the Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Law and Order, MN Reddy, also has the additional charge of ADGP, Railways. So far, Rao says, he has written about 15 letters to himself.

One of his recent letters as IGP, ISD, was about how the Karnataka State Industrial Security Force needed to be allotted dates for training. Occasionally, despite the letters to himself, delays occur. Rao says this is because of the lower machinery in his departments. He explains, “Sometimes, although as the Training head I sanction a date for a force’s training, I later learn from my ISD men that no preparations have been made for it.” Then, he has to use strong language for himself in the Training Department. Rao writes a letter “expressing displeasure” with the IGP, Training. “I then go to the Training office to receive the letter and pull up the officers responsible,” he says.-from Open