In an attempt to boost the state's intelligence department, West Bengal government is building up its intelligence unit at par with the central government guidelines.
Like the central IB, Mamata Banerjee has decided to set up separate intelligence offices in all districts in the state.
At present, crucial information gathering is done in West Bengal by one DIB (District Intelligence Branch) officer in each police station in the state. They report to officer in-charge of the station who report to the superintendent of police in district. SPs send the report to West Bengal police’s intelligence branch in Kolkata.
Kolkata police, however, has a special intelligence branch called special branch (SB).
Now, the government has decided to have a parallel intelligence unit which will work in tandem with the DIB in all districts.
The idea was first mooted by Basudeb Banerjee, present chief secretary of West Bengal, who was the home secretary in 2012. Chief minister Mamata Banerjee recently approved the proposal and asked the administration concerned to build up a “solid intelligence network” in the state.
Chief Secretary Banerjee held a meeting with senior officers of the state intelligence branch and asked them to create a conducive intelligence network in the state to deal with ISIS and other terrorist organisations based in Bangladesh.
Sources said the CM took up the proposal of Banerjee after the Burdwan blast in 2014 which opened up the terror plot of Jamaat-ul-Mujahideen Bangladesh (JMB). The JMB had plotted to kill prime minister of Bangladesh Seikh Hasina. At least 50 terror modules were traced in seven border districts of the state. The intelligence units would first come up in these seven districts— from Siliguri to Siliguri to South 24 Parganas.
The CM had also asked the finance department to fund the setting up of the intelligence units.
Like Intelligence Bureau of central government—which has its offices in all districts of the country—state IB would have offices in all districts and special officers would be recruited from the West Bengal police cadres. The officers would also be chosen from state cadres and would be sent outside the country for special training.
“The chief secretary has asked all of us to be ready to face the challenge in the coming days. He also said that officers would be rewarded for sharp and prudent intelligence gathering,” said an officer of state IB.
