Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Oct 9: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Thursday asked the officials concerned to expedite the process of appointment of meritorious sportspersons in Orissa Police.
Patnaik who reviewed the progress of recruitment of sportspersons in Orissa Police at Secretariat asked sports secretary Saswat Mishra, home secretary Asit Tripathy and director general of police (DGP) Sanjeev Marik to co-ordinate at department levels to accelerate the process of appointment.
The meeting revealed that Orissa is the second state in the country in recruiting sportspersons to state police. While Haryana tops the list by appointing 50 sportspersons into the state police, Orissa has appointed 43 sportspersons in Orissa Police.
Briefing the media after the meeting, the sports secretary said the government has planned to appoint about 30-40 sportspersons in Orissa Police in the next few months.
“We have received about 300 applications from various sportspersons and will examine how many of those meet the recruitment criteria. Meritorious sportspersons would be appointed accordingly,” he said.
In first phase this year, the state government has appointed 31 meritorious sportspersons directly in the Orissa Police April 30. Sources said Rs 2.59 crore has also been awarded to 365 sportspersons
during 2014-15 fiscal.
The meeting revealed that the state government was working on a new policy for appointment of sportspersons.
In order to encourage sportspersons, the state cabinet April 28 this year had approved a proposal to appoint directly the athletes and sportspersons winning gold medals in Olympics and Commonwealth Games as deputy superintendent of police (DSP) which was earlier limited to the post of sub-inspector only.
At the meeting, the chief minister also asked the home department officials to take requisite steps for modernisation of police stations across the state.
Chief Secretary GC Pati and Development Commissioner UN Behera were also attended the meeting.