Rationalisation plan for two special security battalions

BHUBANESWAR: Nearly a month after rationalizing 905 posts of the special operation group (SOG) in favour of police stations, the state police have now planned to transfer several posts from two special security (SS) battalions to strengthen civil policing.
The state police headquarters has approached the home department seeking redeployment of 1,500 sepoys (personnel of the rank of constable) from the two battalions based in Sambalpur and Keonjhar to police stations. Police said the two armed police forces (SS battalions) were established in 2006 to provide protection to police stations and jails of several districts in view of the Maoist menace.
“Downsizing of the two SS battalions is absolutely necessary as Maoist menace in those districts (Sambalpur, Deogarh, Sonepur, Sundargarh, Rourkela, Keonjhar, Jajpur, Dhenkanal and Mayurbhanj) has been reduced substantially. The armed police forces created for security purposes in those districts should now be rationalized. Instead, the civil police (police stations) should be strengthened,” reads the letter from the police headquarters, seen by the

TOI

.
Police said it was not possible to expect sanction of new posts for police stations in view of the government’s austerity measure. “It is also a difficult and lengthy process to conduct direct recruitments to fill up existing vacancies in the police force in the wake of Covid pandemic. Redeployment of the sepoys of the two battalions as constables in police stations will quickly strengthen civil police,” the letter added.
The police headquarters proposed a tweak in the eligibility criteria of the sepoys for smooth redeployment. According to the existing rules, a sepoy should have completed 15 years in the SS battalion and attained 40 years of age as on January 1 of the year in which the redeployment will be made.
“Since none of the sepoys meets the eligibility criteria, we have requested the government to relax the rules and bring down the 15-year battalion experience to two years. We have also requested to relax the age limit from 40 years to 23 years,” a senior police officer said.
Experts, however, find little logic in the redeployment policy. “Strengthening of the police stations by weakening other armed police and security establishments is not a wise idea. Police stations need offices of the ranks of assistant sub-inspector and sub-inspector to boost investigation mechanism. Redeployment of sepoys (constables) will not help in any way,” said P K Pattnaik, a retired police officer.
Resentment is also growing among battalion officers. “The Maoist menace might have declined but districts often encounter law and order issues that can be effectively tackled by the special armed police force. The government should not weaken the battalions,” an officer of Odisha special armed police (OSAP) said.
Inspired By