State faces acute shortage of IPS officers


Rourkela: Even as the Left Wing Extremism (LWE) is spreading its tentacles in various parts of the state, acute shortage of Indian Police Service (IPS) officers has become a major hurdle in effective combat against the Maoism, which has posed a serious threat to the State’s security. This is what the security experts feel.

The strength of IPS cadre strength in the state is 188 posts while 131 posts are for direct recruits and 57 posts are under promotion quota. Currently, only 69 IPS officers are manning the law and order affairs and 119 posts are lying vacant.

Out of 131 posts provided for the direct recruits, 103 officers are in position, but 20 of them are in central deputation while six are manning junior posts. In all, 69 IPS officers are actually in position.

It is said that as suitable officers are not available, all the 57 posts of promotional recruits are lying vacant. In the next 8 to 10 years, these vacancies may not be filled up because there is no direct recruitment to Odisha Police Service (OPS) cadre. This is a terrible situation, which was never faced by the State Police Administration in the past,” lamented an expert.

As the Maoist menace is on rise in Koraput, Malkangiri, Nuapada, Bolangir, Bargarh, Kalahandi and Nabarangpur, deployment of direct recruit IPS officers as SP and Additional SP and SDPOs in these districts has posed serious problem in the State Police Headquarters, sources admitted.

When the state feels the pinch of acute shortage of IPS officers, the centre is not doing more allocation of direct recruit for top cops in Odisha. The State Government has time and again has taken up the matter with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to allocate at least 12 to 15 IPS officers annually to the state.

According to statics, between 2002 and 2010, the MHA has allocated 4 or 5 IPS officers.

During this period, five direct recruit IPS officers allocated to Odisha have resigned and joined Indian Administrative Service (IAS). Besides, three IPS officers have changed cadres due to their marriage to other cadre officers.

Due to acute shortage of IPS officers, the State Police Service officers in the rank of Additional SP, who have been promoted from the rank of Sub Inspector of Police are being deployed as SPs-in-charge, and most of them will be retiring retirement in near future.

Under such circumstances, the State Government has requested MHA to allocate at least 12 IPS officers to Odisha from the successful of the Civil Service Examination (CSE)-2010, while only 4 IPS officers has been allocated, rued a senior top cop.

“As all over the country there is shortage of IPS officers, the MHA has been mulling over the shortage of IPS officers for quite some time, but not much to improve the situation. It is pushing for special recruitment of IPS officers. However, there is no long-term staff plan,” an Additional DGP-rank officer said, requesting anonymity.

(Sources- Tathya)

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

TechnoPrep launches offline NEET classes in Rourkela

Young technical minds should serve society: V K Saraswat

Steel City to host Natak Mahotsav-2013 from March 27