Bengal Police Faces 43,000 Vacancies, CM Orders Faster Recruitment

West Bengal Police currently has around 43,000 vacant posts, Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari said. He ordered the Police Recruitment Board to start the recruitment process quickly.

The shortage of police personnel has left many police stations dependent on civic volunteers. The Chief Minister said the state needs to increase police strength and improve police infrastructure.
Adhikari also raised concerns about the condition of police vehicles. Around 4,000 police vehicles need to be replaced, he said. As the government may not be able to buy all of them at once, it plans to replace around 1,000 vehicles every year.

According to the Chief Minister, West Bengal currently has only 106 police personnel for every one lakh people. The government wants to increase this number to at least 200 per one lakh people. Filling the existing 43,000 vacancies will be an important step towards this goal.
Adhikari also called for stronger women’s police stations and better facilities for investigating crimes against women and children. He praised the state police for its work against cybercrime but stressed the need for greater public awareness to prevent online fraud.

The state is also creating a new 200-member Civil Defence force called ‘Arjun’ to deal with natural disasters and emergencies. Around 80 former army personnel, aged up to 40, have already been identified for the force. Agniveers may also be recruited in the future.

The Chief Minister further stressed the need to reduce police response time. He claimed that in many parts of West Bengal, the average response time is around three hours. To improve this, each police station will get four dedicated vehicles for the emergency 112 service. More vehicles may be provided in the next budget.
Adhikari has directed that the new 112 service vehicles be launched on Mahalaya. He also asked the Police Recruitment Board to speed up the process of filling the vacant posts.