KOLKATA, Oct 23:
The West Bengal Government has urged the Union Home Ministry to reconsider its decision of entrusting the CRPF with the security of Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar, a senior official said on Wednesday.
The state government has, in a letter to the MHA dated October 21, also sought to know why it was not consulted before the decision was taken to hand over the governor’s security to the CRPF.
“It is the responsibility of the state government to look after the security of the governor since he is the constitutional head of the state.
“The state government has provided him with ‘Z’ category security since the first day of his appointment.
Then why did the MHA suddenly decide to entrust the CRPF with his security without consulting us?” a senior state government official said, wishing not to be named.
Sources in the governor’s office said a communication was sent to the state government to upgrade his security from Z to Z+ category after his vehicle was blocked at Jadavpur University by students when he had gone there to ‘rescue’ Union Minister Babul Supriyo in September.
Supriyo was shown black flags, heckled and mobbed by students of Left-leaning organisations who tried to prevent him from addressing an event of the ABVP, the students wing of the RSS.
The official said, the state government’s security arrangements are “foolproof” and that the MHA has been urged to rethink the issue.
Dhankhar took oath as the governor of West Bengal on July 30.
The MHA had on October 15 issued an order directing the CRPF to take charge of Dhankhar’s security that will be valid in all parts of the country.
More than a week after the MHA’s notification, the CRPF is yet to take charge of the governor’s security.
Meetings between senior officers of the state police and the central paramilitary force for finalising the new security structure have ended inconclusively.
Only Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her nephew Abhishek Banerjee, a Lok Sabha member, are provided Z+ security cover in the state. (PTI)
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