Force One, the elite commando force of the Maharashtra police, looks like a nobody's baby. The unit was set up in the aftermath of the 26/11 attacks, but since its inception in 2009, the supervisory authority of Force One has changed thrice – with the latest just a few months ago.
And this, at a time when terror threats and bomb blasts are becoming frequent in the country.
Who supervises Force One?
When it was commissioned in 2009, it was headed by a deputy inspector general and supervised by Director General of Police, Special Operations. This DGP also supervised Anti-Naxal Operations and the Anti-Terrorism Squad. The ATS was being headed by an officer of the rank of Inspector General then.
What happened after that?
"A few years later, the ATS chief's post was upgraded to the rank of additional director general and post of Special Operations got downgraded to the rank of additional director general of police. The Force One then came under ATS. This was done for synergy as the ATS' task is intelligence-gathering on terrorism and Force One's to counter terrorists in an attack. Later, the chief of Force One's post was upgraded to IG rank," said a senior police officer.
What's the latest?
Four months ago, Force One was asked to report to additional director general (law and order) KL Bishnoi. Sources say this change was necessitated by the fact that the chief of ATS and the head of Force One were from the same IPS batch. The police department then took an "administrative" decision to make Force One work under ADG law and order.
Won't these changes affect the force's preparedness?
It will. "It is important that an agency like Force One to work as a cohesive unit. Frequent change of directions will affect their morale. It will result in administrative issues as every time a new supervisory authority takes charge, he will come up with new orders and ideas and the agency will find it difficult to adapt to these changes," said a Force One official.
What are top officials saying?
Director general of police Sanjeev Dayal refused to comment. Home department officials said they were unaware of the recent change. "We are not aware that the supervisory authority of Force One has been changed again. We are under the assumption that it is still headed by ATS. It could be an internal arrangement by the DG office," said a senior official.
