TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: After going in for a massive recruitment drive, Goa Police are now pulling out all stops to train the mammoth force of 644 newly recruited constables by expanding the campus of Police Training School (PTS) at Valpoi.
Senior officials confirm that they had capacity to train only 300 constables, but managed to expand it to 420 by gathering all possible resources. The Navodaya Vidyalaya premises, a few meters away from the PTS, is being used to accommodate trainee-constables.
The 45th batch of constables is undergoing nine months of rigorous training which will include practical as well as theory. The training began from September 20.
PTS Principal (Superintendent of Police) Atmaram Deshpande said the capacity for physical training has been expanded.
“The institution has the capacity to conduct training for 300 personnel but we have expanded it to squeeze in 420. We have created additional infrastructure such as blocks, toilet blocks and a mess block,” he said speaking to Herald.
Two hundred other recruits are undergoing training at Navodaya Forest Training School while the lady constables are being trained at GRP Camp, Altinho – both covering the same syllabus.
“The central sponsored Navodaya has been converted into PTS to accommodate the remaining batch of male recruits. The premise was occupied by IRB second battalion but we have shifted them to another camp at Nanora until the current training ends,” he added.
The Maharashtra Police Training Institution which was training few trainees from Goa police has for the time being expressed their inability to do so as they themselves are training huge numbers of their force.
“We send our newly recruit constables there, as well because the police administration procedure is the same and the language is also known to both the states. But they refused this time because their newly recruited constables are also undergoing training. They are booked for the next three years,” Deshpande said.
As Herald reported earlier, for the first time the training also include handling Glock pistol and Insas rifles which has become a part of police armoury since last year.
The department has introduced new training module covering several aspects to match with the changing socio-economic development in society. Apart from eight classes, the practical dimension will give exposure to the new recruits to learn every bit of policing such as registering First Information Report (FIR), filling station diary daily and other aspects.
The recruits will also be posted at different police station across the State.
Meanwhile, 23 sub inspectors for the IRB cadre have begun their training at Central Training Centre of CRPF at Mudkhed in Nanded district, of Maharashtra while training of the 450-odd IRB constables will begin from October 16 after their antecedents are verified.
