Jaipur: Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma Thursday publicly took police chiefs to task over intelligence failure, and questioned why local agencies had no information of drug networks in the state even as Mumbai and Gujarat ATS teams entered Rajasthan and took action against culprits.Addressing a state-level police conference in the city, Sharma pointed to the recent action taken by law enforcing agencies against drug networks in districts such as Jodhpur and Barmer. “Our district police should have had information, but they didn’t. We need to find out why,” he said, calling for accountability.Taking a dig at Sharma, former CM Ashok Gehlot said it was a “great irony” that the state’s CM was himself admitting that police from other states like Gujarat and Maharashtra were conducting operations here without the knowledge of local police. “This is direct evidence of the collapse of the intelligence system. Such a situation has developed despite BJP govts being in power in Gujarat and Maharashtra. The CM, who is in charge of the home department, should answer. This shows that the govt’s administrative grip has reduced to zero,” he said.Meanwhile, addressing the conference on ‘Police System in Developed India’ at the Rajasthan Police Academy, Sharma reiterated the govt’s commitment to strengthen enforcement and intelligence mechanisms to tackle the drug menace. He stressed on the need to improve policing in specific districts, citing concerns over crimes against women in Pali and Karauli, and cases related to SCs and STs in Chittorgarh and Beawar.He directed the DCP and additional chief secretary (home) to submit monthly performance reports, and ordered the formation of a committee to evaluate the work of officers on a regular basis.Sharma said the state govt was going to constitute a fund of Rs 200 crore for modernising the department and providing infrastructure. “We are going to establish a Rajasthan Police Technical Training Academy and a Sardar Patel Centre for Cyber Crimes at a cost of Rs 350 crore,” he said.He also asked police officers to dedicate 100 hours every year to train junior officers. The CM launched e-Visitors and e-Zero FIR portals and released the Rajasthan Police Priority-2026 booklet at the programme.
