Severe manpower crisis hits Jharkhand police

JAMSHEDPUR: The Jharkhand police seem to be reeling under manpower crunch, even as the government has been arming the police force with sophisticated weapons and better gadgets in its fight against Naxalites.
Top police sources admit "serious manpower shortage" in the state police force whose strength is said to have depleted to about 30,000 including officers.Even Naxal-infested districts like Palamu now has lesser number of policemen than what was available two years ago.
Meanwhile, the death toll in Thursday''s MCC ambush in West Singhbhum district has gone up to 19 with the recovery of the body Noamundi circle inspector Maloy Ghosh. The police search party sent to track down the missing policemen found Ghosh''s body inside Sarand forest on Monday. At least 145 police personnel have died in encounter with naxals since the creation of Jharkhand.
The police officials say the government has provided automatic weapons, landmine detractors and bulletproof vehicles and vests in the extremist-hit districts. "But better machines alone won''t enough. We also need sufficient policemen. The strength of CRPF too has come down to 10 from 15 companies."
The government''s move to recruit around 700 retired army men to supplement the state police force in the "anti-extremist operation" also doesn''t appear to be working too well. "They have been reluctance to participate in combat because the government has not yet announced the compensation for the ex-servicemen killed on duty," a senior police official revealed.
The director general of state police, R R Prasad, was not available for comments. He was said to be busy in a meeting.
The Jharkhand Police Association claims the state has only 11 police personnel per 10,000 people. "Delhi has 45 policemen per 10,000 people. The terrain in Jharkhand is much more difficult and we also naxalite problem in the state," the associations vice president R K Singh points out.The government''s attempt to recruit constables got entangled in the contentious reservation and domicile issues. The home secretary now has announced to expedite the process for appointment of 15,000 new constables.
However, experts feel both "men and machine miserably failed" at Saranda forest. "It appears that the ''inexperienced'' police party offered very little resistance to the ultras and a good number of policemen possibly had deserted. The DSP leading the operation reportedly was beaten up and had fled." There have been reports that some of the self-loading rifles (SLRs) failed but also the constables of the district police couldn''t operate the SLRs properly.