Top cop's coldness cost State govt a conference

Secretariat sources said that with Karnataka top police officers declining to be the host, the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D) requested Odisha to organise the conference.

Jija Harisingh, Director General of Police, Home Guards & Fire Services is the chairperson of the conference. In the national conference held in Haryana in 2008, a resolution was passed to hold the 2010 conference at Bangalore.

It is said that Ajai Kumar Singh, DG&IGP has stonewalled the plan to host the conference in Bangalore. Jija Harisingh had written to Chief Minister and the home department seeking permission to organise the two-day conference. The Centre and the host State would to share the cost of the conference equally.

CM nod to grant Rs 10 lakh

Sources said the Chief Minister agreed to sanction Rs 10 lakh but senior police officers refused to provide logistic support for the conference. Jija Harisingh told Deccan Herald she had no idea as to why the permission was denied to the conference that is held once every two years.

“I have no idea why the police response was negative. Anyhow, Odisha is happy to organise the conference for three days. It will be in Bhubaneshwar and I am going to chair the conference,” said Jija Harisingh, the senior most woman police officer in the country who is retiring next year.

Asked whether holding the conference would have been useful to Karnataka, she said it would have given exposure to the large number of women officers in Karnataka.

Sources said President Pratibha Patil was scheduled to inaugurate the conference, which would have been attended by about 300 women police across the country. Senior police officers who are working in tough terrains like Jammu & Kashmir will be interacting and sharing their experiences with their subordinate officers. It is a sort of capacity building exercise by the seniors, the sources said.  Ajai Kumar Singh was not available for comments.