Imphal, March 10, 2010: Abandoning the earlier plan of appointing a Security Advisor to the Government of Manipur, the present SPF government has finally chosen Gopal Sharma, a retired IPS officer and former DGP of Jammu & Kashmir to be appointed as the Security Advisor to the state Chief Minister, a highly reliable official source said today.

In the latest move of the Government to enhance internal security in the trouble-prone state of Manipur in coinciding with a directive of the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, the state government decided to appoint a Security Advisor to the Chief Minister dropping the earlier decision of appointing a Security Advisor to the Government.

The Government had earlier chosen ML Kumawat, former DGP of BSF from a panel of three names provided by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs for the post of SA to the state Government.

The other two names provided to the state Government were EN Rammohan, former DGP and former Advisor to the Governor of Manipur during the President's Rule in 2001-02, and NC Padhi.

The state Government had selected Kumawat, who was behind the formation of the elite police commando of Andhra Pradesh known as the Greyhound Commando unit to deal with the Maoist naxalites, considering his career as IPS officer.

He was also Special Secretary of Internal Security (IS) to the Government of India.

He has good service report.

But, Kumawat reportedly declined the state Government's appraisal to him of the selection for the post.

Then, the Centre is reported to have given a second panel of officers' names.

Gopal Sharma, whose name was included in the second panel of list provided by the Centre, has been selected by the government leaving behind the other IPS officer VK Joshi, former director of Intelligence Bureau and former DGP of CRPF.

Mention may be made here that the Centre had recently directed the NE states facing insurgency problems to appoint a Security Advisor each on the recommendation of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs.

Profile of to-be SA to CM

Former Jammu & Kashmir Director General of Police, Gopal Sharma was the Director General of Special Services Bureau (SSB).

A 1972 batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Sharma who belongs to Jammu & Kashmir State cadre, had also worked as Security Advisor to the former Chief Minister of J& K, Ghulam Nabi Azad .

Elevated to the rank of DGP in J&K in 2003, he was the longest serving Police chief of the state, and had served for more than four years.

During his tenure in that trouble-torn state, he led many anti-militancy operations from the front, and served as a successful Police chief and remained almost free from controversies.

As Security Adviser to the then Chief Minister, Sharma had realised that his potential was not being utilized for streamlining the security and intelligence agencies and hence was keen to take up some challenging task.

In July 2006, Sharma's name was cleared for the top slot as the 16th Commissioner of the Delhi Police by the Union Home Ministry, but the decision to shift him was kept on hold following the protest lodged by 1972 batch IPS officer Kiran Bedi over the plan of bringing an outsider to head the police in Delhi.

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