The Hindu : Centre may post its own immigration officials: Kharge

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Apr 12, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka

Centre may post its own immigration officials: Kharge

By Our Staff Reporter

Bangalore April 11. The Home and Minor Irrigation Minister, Mallikarjun Kharge, said today that the Union Home Ministry was posting its own immigration officials at the City airport to check passports, visas, and other travel documents of air passengers, replacing the local police officers.

Speaking to reporters after a monthly review meeting of the Police Department, the minister said the Centre had informed the State Government that it would open its own immigration section and send officials to man it within three months. In view of this, he said the department had not taken any decision to streamline the immigration section.

The local police officials, who were working in the immigration section, were in the eye of a controversy following allegations that they had ensured free passage to certain underworld elements and smugglers whose travel documents were not in order. When H.T.Sangliana was the Commissioner of Police, Bangalore, he had suspended a few policemen working in the immigration section for alleged irregularities in handling travel documents of some people.

To a question, Mr. Kharge said immigration officials at the airport were checking passengers for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).

Asked whether the STF men had sighted the outlaw, Veerappan, Mr. Kharge said he had no information about it.

He did not react to the removal of Walter Dawaram as the chief of the Tamil Nadu STF, even though the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa, had reacted to the change of STF chief in Karnataka in the past. But he clarified that Karnataka would cooperate with the Tamil Nadu STF in the operations against the outlaw.

Mr. Kharge said he would not say anything about the inquiry ordered by Tamil Nadu into the alleged payment of ransom to Veerappan on the basis of details given by the former DGP, C.Dinakar, in his book, Rajkumar: Veerappan's Prize Catch, as the matter was before the court. He said the Government was ready to face the consequences.

Since the State Government had made its stand on the charges clear, there was no need to cooperate with that Government in the inquiry, he said.

He said the Government had not yet received special weapons from the Centre for anti-Veerappan operations by the State STF, even though Rs. 5 crore had been paid to the <243>Centre.

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