Home department proposes to hire 98,000 police personnel

The home department in Maharashtra has proposed recruiting 98,000 police personnel to improve the police-public ratio. Currently, the state has 136.45 personnel per one lakh people, and they aim to increase it to 225 policemen. The decision will be taken by the deputy chief minister and home minister Devendra Fadnavis soon.

The home department has proposed to recruit 98,000 police personnel to help the force improve the ratio of the police personnel per one lakh people. The current strength of police personnel and officers in Maharashtra stands at 2.45 lakh.

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“After a departmental review by a sub-committee of the finance department and the high-powered committee, headed by the chief secretary, the government allowed us to retain the existing number of personnel. However, we were asked to chalk out a policy for the working force for each of the police stations and various allied units. On the completion of it, we have now proposed adding another 98,000 personnel to the sanctioned strength. We expected at least 50% more posts to be sanctioned,” an official from the home department said.

The official said the decision would be taken by the deputy chief minister and home minister Devendra Fadnavis soon.

The Central government in a written reply in parliament in March had said that the current police-public ratio in the country stood at 152.80 per one lakh people. Quoting the Bureau of Police Research and Development, it had said that the state with the highest ratio was Nagaland with around 1,189.33 personnel while Bihar recorded the lowest with only 75.16 police personnel per one lakh people.

Maharashtra had 136.45 personnel against the sanctioned strength of 186.36 as on January 1, 2022, union minister Nityanand Rai told the parliament. The state home department now wants to increase the ratio to 225 policemen, officials said.

Home department officials said they had received proposals for 29 more police stations. The director general of police (DGP) has proposed seven police stations in Thane (Mira Road, Kashimira, Bhayandar, Uttan, Naya Nagar, Dapode, Diva), three in Pune and the remaining in other cities. “We have asked the DGP to have a consolidated review for the entire state and move a proposal at one go instead of keeping it as an ongoing practice. Fadnavis wants to sanction them at one go,” another home department official said.