Bhubaneswar: More boots on ground and greater visibility of police is the greatest deterrent against crime. But the capital city police is facing severe manpower crunch resulting in pendency of cases and leading to problems in maintaining law and order.
Orissa police has 60,515 personnel as on September 2016 against the sanctioned strength of 72,145. The numbers include those engaged in administrative work too.
According to the 2015 Bureau of Police Research and Development report, there should be 144.17 police personnel per 1 lakh population but Orissa has only 119.61 per 1 lakh.
The present strength of city police, which caters to a population of over 8,35,00, is around 1,470.
All city police stations are functioning well below their sanctioned strength. In Sahid Nagar police station the sanctioned strength is 75 but the actual strength is less than half at 37.
The sanctioned strength of these police stations was decided when they were established but has not been updated since then. Sahid Nagar police station was built in 1974 and the sanctioned strength was decided on the basis of population it had to serve at that time.
Other police stations fare no better. The force needs 1401 more sub-inspectors, a rank which is of the investigating officer, resulting in a huge backlog of cases. There are around 6000 cases pending with Bhubaneswar police.
“We have to manage law and order, patrolling, VIP duties and investigate cases. This is not possible with the present strength. In cities like Mumbai, there are separate departments for investigation and law and order but we do not have such provisions here,” said a senior police officer on the condition of anonymity.
Moreover, the police do not have a shift system for officers who sometimes have to work for more than 18 hours.
“People want us to be very polite to them. We also try but you tell me how when we do not have any personal life. We do not get to spend time with family,” said a police inspector.
When asked about the high number of vacancies, home secretary Asit Tripathi said “Orissa police has recruited a record number of personnel in last two years.”
Director general of police KB Singh, too, claimed that Orissa police is in a much better condition than some other states. “Recruitment is already on and 800 sub-inspectors will soon join the force,” he added.
Kuldeep Singh
Post News Network
