THRISSUR: When the student police cadet (SPC) programme, implemented by the Kerala police, becomes the cynosure of all eyes, the project’s real creator - E M Thomas - an economics professor with the Christ College here, has been fading away into the oblivion of the authorities, either deliberately or accidentally.It was Thomas who started the project when he was in charge of the National Service Scheme (NSS) in the college in 2008 on an experimental basis with the help of the district police administration.According to the records of the college, the-then IG of Police P Vijayanand inaugurated the project on the campus on 23 July, 2008.Similarly, it was the-then Irinjalakkuda DySP V V Sasikumar who helped the college authorities design the uniform - sky blue shirt and navy blue trousers - for the force, principal Rev Fr Dr Jose Thekkan said.It is a fact that the project took shape like a massive regiment and even spread to other states under the Kerala police and its present nodal officer P Vijayan. But the authorities have deliberately left out the name of Thomas when it won accolades, Fr Thekkan said.The college had launched the project to acquaint students with the role of the police and educate them with the law-enforcement profession. Forty members of the NSS were drafted into the force when it was first started, Thomas said. “I am happy to know that the project became a national hit. I am not bothered about why my name has been left out,” he said.However, the college authorities submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and state police chief Jacob Punnoose the other day urging them to take steps to recognise the contribution of Thomas in taking the initiative to start the project.A resolution passed in the 41st All-India Police Science Congress at Dehradun last year had recommended all states to adopt the SPC project. But the one who conceived the idea is still being neglected, when his brainchild is winning accolades across the nation.Police Deny Claim: P Vijayan, Commissioner of Police, Thrissur City and State Nodal Officer of the SPC Project, denied the allegations of Christ College. He said the project was first conceived in 2006 at Janakeeyam programme in Kochi as an attempt to inculcate better civic sense among students and to mould them as responsible youth who will react positively to the demands of society. Its full-fledged implementation started in 2007-2008 and the project has no connection with Christ College as they claimed, he said. The project was first successfully implemented in Ernakulam, Alappuzha, Malappuram and Kozhikode districts and it had no connection with Thrissur district in the first phase.Recently, a senior police official in the state had claimed that the he had conceived the idea in 1997. There is nothing new in people claiming credit in successful projects, he said.
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