NTRO sacks 40 officers without citing reason

NTRO’S DUTY ROSTER HAD ALLOCATED WORK FOR THE OFFICERS, WHO HAD WORKED FOR 5 TO 14 YEARS IN A CASUAL CAPACITY

NEW DELHI: India’s technical-intelligence spy agency set up in the aftermath of the Kargil conflict, the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO), has removed about 40 intelligence officers without citing a reason.

The officers — who specialised in analysing open-source intelligence on global issues ranging from terrorism and energy to left-wing extremism — plan to go to court, saying the move was arbitrary and came without any warning. “On Thursday, those of us who were on the shift were shocked to see an NTRO order on the notice-board, saying all casual editors and monitors stood de-panelled with effect from the afternoon of May 7. That’s it,” said one former China desk officer.

The NTRO’s duty roster for May had allocated work for the officers, who had worked for five to 14 years in a casual capacity as editors and monitors, until May 31, he said.

One officer said there was talk of restructuring on the anvil, but the NTRO chief declined to comment on the issue. “These are internal, administrative matters. There is nothing in this for you to get excited over,” NTRO chairman Alok Joshi, who is also a former Research & Analysis Wing chief, told HT. Most of the officers have post-graduate degrees or doctorates in disciplines such as languages and international relations from elite institutions like Jawaharlal Nehru University.

They were part of the NTRO’s Center for Focus on Open-Source-Intelligence Generation (CFOG) and had tracked security issues