Cuttack: The Odisha Police is facing a massive manpower crunch with over 33,000 positions currently lying vacant across various ranks, Director General of Police (DGP) Y B Khurania revealed on Wednesday.
Addressing reporters in Cuttack, the DGP said the existing police strength is inadequate in comparison to Odisha’s growing population. “If you look at the population-to-police ratio statistics, Odisha ranks very low. Because of that, they [the personnel] have to work much harder compared to other states to maintain effective law enforcement and public safety,” he said, which responding to resignation of Bhubaneswar DCP Jagmohan Mena.
To address the shortage, Khurania said Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi recently approved the creation of 17,000 new posts in the police department. Combined with the existing 16,000 vacant posts, the total number of positions to be filled now stands at 33,000.
The DGP expressed hope that the recruitment process would be initiated by Uniformed Services Recruitment Board at the earliest to fill all vacant posts and significantly enhance the state’s policing capacity.
Khurania said strengthening the police force is essential as Odisha continues to modernise its policing system and improve public service delivery. Filling the vacancies would enhance operational efficiency and enable better policing in both urban and rural areas, he added.
