7.68 lakh law enforcers being trained for election duties: Jahangir
The government is imparting training to around 7.68 lakh law enforcers that include Police, BGB and Ansar, aimed at holding a free, fair, peaceful and neutral parliamentary election slated for next February.
"The training will be completed by mid-January," Home Adviser Lt Gen (retd.) Md Jahangir Alam Chowdhury said today, after coming out of a core committee meeting held at the ministry in Bangladesh Secretariat here yesterday (12 October).
Around 1.5 lakh police personnel are receiving the training with a view to ensuring flawless security during the election, he said. "The final phase of the training of police will be completed by January 15 next year," he added.
The Human Rights Division of the Police Headquarters formulated nine training modules incorporating suggestions of election experts and lawyers for the training of its personnel.
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Through the training, the police personnel will be able to deal with any law and order situation successfully during the polls.
Bangladesh police has 130 smaller and four larger training centres across the country where policemen are being trained following the course outline for election duties.
As part of the training, two documentaries have been developed, one has over 15 minutes audio audiovisual content, and another is a nine-minute film alongside a booklet.
The Home Adviser said a total of 5.85 lakh members of the Ansar and VDP are being imparted the election training.
Of them, 1.35 lakh Ansar personnel are getting training with firearms while 4.5 lakh are without arms, he said.
"A total of 585,000 Ansar and VDP personnel are being trained 'pre-election training' programme for approximately 45,000 polling stations, which means a centre will have 13 Ansar-VDP men for election duty.
The Home Adviser said a total of 33,000 members of the 1,100 Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) platoons will be deployed during the election. Sixty per cent of the election training for BGB has already been completed, he added.
"The electoral training for BGB will be completed by 31 December this year," he hoped.
Additionally, 80,000 members of the armed forces will be deployed as striking forces during the election to hold the upcoming 13th parliamentary election in a peaceful and better manner, he added.
