In a first, Maharashtra Director General of Police (DGP) Sanjay Pandey has posted a message about two job vacancies for the post of superintendents in Mumbai’s Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS), inviting aspirants to approach the department or contact him through social media.
On Facebook, DGP Pandey mentioned that the ATS is a prestigious posting, which provides for a 25% special allowance. Pandey also said the interested officers can directly approach the ADG ATS, or the ADG establishment. “You can give preference here as well,” he mentioned, referring to his social media account.
When contacted for more information about the apparent shortage of manpower in his department, state ATS chief Vineet Agarwal refused to comment.
A Mumbai Police official said, “The ATS is a very prestigious department and everyone wants to work there.” The official, however, also said no interested person will reply to the DG on his Facebook account as others will also come to know about it.
The post occupied by former ATS IG Suhas Warke has been vacant ever since the officer was transferred almost a year ago. ATS SP, Technical Analysis, Sohail Sharma had left for the US for higher studies. DIG Shivdeep Lande was repatriated to Bihar on November 26; his position too is yet to be filled. Rajkumar Shinde, another SP-rank officer in ATS, was transferred to the Anti-Corruption Bureau some time back, but he has yet not been relieved.
In recent years, the ATS has seen its cases related to the Islamic State terrorist organisation — including those involving youths from Kalyan in 2014 and Malwani in 2015 — transferred to the NIA within days or weeks and many feel this could be the reason behind the reluctance to join the ATS.
Maharashtra was the first state to have an ATS following the blasts of 1998, 2000, and 2002 in Mumbai, and serial bombings elsewhere in the country. A similar unit that had been set up earlier in the 1990s was revived on August 22, 2004 with K P Raghuvanshi as its chief.
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