MHA expresses concern over shortage of manpower in JKP
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Sept 18: Expressing concern over the shortage of manpower in the Jammu and Kashmir Police, the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has directed the State to fill-up the vacancies in a time bound manner and also initiate exercise for comprehensive review of the sanctioned strength of the police personnel so that complex internal security challenges get the focused attention.
The concern has been conveyed to the Chief Secretary, Mohammad Iqbal Khandey and Director General of Police, K Rajendra Kumar by the Union Home Secretary, Anil Goswami vide DO No.21011/78/2014 dated September 9, 2014.
“The need for increasing the number of personnel in the State Police has been engaging the attention of the Ministry of Home Affairs for quite some time. Moreover, this has been deliberated upon in several conferences of the Chief Secretaries and DGPs of all the States and Union Territories”, said the communique, the copy of which is available with EXCELSIOR.
As per the data compiled by the Bureau of Police Research and Development, against the sanctioned strength of 78242 police personnel in different grades in Jammu and Kashmir Police, 72474 personnel were in position leading to a shortfall of 5768 personnel. “This shortage has the potential to adversely affect the efficiency and effectiveness of the law and order machinery and the confidence of the citizens in the capacity of the police to protect the property and lives of people”, the communiqué further said.
“Policeman is one of the most visible representatives of the Government and in times of crisis and danger, he is also the first responder. Moreover, police today plays a complex and multifarious role especially in view of the sophisticated crimes and an increasing number of legislations under which cognizance of crimes can be taken by the police”, Union Home Secretary said.
Stating that provision of adequate manpower in the State Police Organization is one of the pre-requisites to arrest such a trend, the Union Home Secretary said, “as complex internal security challenges such as terrorism and technology and women related crimes require focused attention, it is critical that not only the existing vacancies are filed up but a comprehensive review of sanctioned strength of police personnel in the State is also carried out and a time bound State specific requirement and training plan is finalized”.
While reassessing the strength of police personnel, it is also imperative to take into account the emerging mobile and IT applications such as enterprise resource planning, GIS based computer aided dispatch, online complaints system, electronic record keeping, modern equipment, weapons, vehicles, CCTV surveillance, data centres command and control centers and CCTNS etc, the Union Home Secretary said.
“These aspects can help the State Government to rationalize the manpower requirement for routine and record keeping duties and deploy the forces for core policing functions”, Home Secretary said in the letter.
The MHA has also laid thrust on strengthening welfare measures such as provision of housing and medical facilities and rest-room facilities for women police personnel in the police stations so as to attract talented manpower in the JKP.
“Central funds for several these measures are provided under Modernization of Police Forces Scheme and the State Government may seek additional funds during the current financial year towards modernizing its police force by expeditious utilization of the funds already provided under the Scheme”, the letter said.
Mr Goswami has asked the Chief Secretary as well as DGP to initiate a time bound action plan to fill up the existing vacancies in the State Police preferably within a period of one year, review the existing sanctioned strength of police personnel at all levels in the light of crime rate, available technology and national and international benchmarks for police population ratio so as to strengthen and maintain a feeling of safety and security by preventing crimes and upholding the law and order in the State.
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