Habitual drinkers: voluntary retirement for 300 Assam police officers

Guwahati: Assam Chief Minister Himnanta Biswa Sarma announced on Sunday that around 300 police officers in the state police department would be offered voluntary retirement because of being "habitual drinkers", PTI reported.

He added that the process has already started, and new recruitment will be run to fill the vacancies soon.

"About 300 officers and jawans are habitual drinkers, and consumption of too much alcohol has damaged their bodies. The government has a provision for a voluntary retirement scheme (VRS) for them. It is an old rule, but we had not implemented it earlier," the CM who handles the home portfolio told the media.

Further, he said that he is also working on decentralization of the governance and has started the process of opening offices with powers that were previously vested with the deputy commissioners' office in all 126 legislative assembly constituency areas.

"We are trying to ensure people don't have to travel to the district headquarters for work at the DC's office and that the DC's office is available in every LAC area," he said. "The DCs will look after law and order, and they will be given different responsibilities."