MP shifts police dogs, handlers; BJP takes a dig

Bhopal: The current ‘transfer season’ in Madhya Pradesh, government has caught dogs unaware, literally. In an unusual and intriguing development, 46 police dogs have been transferred and asked to report to their new places of posting “with immediate effect” by the state government.

Commandant of 23rd Battalion Dog Squad, Simala Prasad, issued a notification on Friday evening, asking 46 handlers of tracker, sniffer and narco dogs posted in different districts in the state to join their new places of posting along with their canines.

In the reshuffle in dog squad, three sniffer dogs, Rima, Jaya and Masco have been shifted to Chhindwara, Betul and Satna respectively from their present place of posting in chief minister Kamal Nath’s official residence.

Sources disclosed to this newspaper that Rima and Jaya, both aged eight-and-half-years, have been shifted out of chief minister’sresidence because of their advancing age.

They were posted in the ‘plum position’ of guarding chief minister’s house nearly two years ago.

Three sniffer dogs, Duffi, Sikandar and Renu, currently posted in Chhindwara, Hosangabad and Betul respectively, have been deployed in chief minister’s official residence in their new posting. The three canines are aged 8.3, six and 8.4 years respectively.

This was the first time; the dog squad of Madhya Pradesh police has witnessed transfer of such a massive scale. The large scale transfer of police dogs has become a subject of debate in political circle here with Opposition BJP taking a potshot at the Kamal Nath government for not sparing even ca-nines in its ongoing transfer and posting exercise.

“The Kamal Nath government is running transfer industry. More than 10,000 employees of state government have been transferred ever since Congress came to power in MP six months ago. Now, even police dogs were not spared in the exercise”, a BJP spokesman said.