COPS GO AWOL IN PATNA
Cops are drawing salaries despite being perenially off-duty
As many as 200 of the 1,500 police personnel posted at the police lines in Patna have gone missing. A probe by Rajesh Kumar, the deputy inspector general in charge of Bihar’s Central Police Range, has revealed that the men have been AWOL for more than a year! Another 300 policemen have not been assigned any duties for months.
Preliminary investigations by the DIG showed that each of the missing men had initially proceeded on a few days’ leave and then failed to report back to the police lines—for over 12 months in many cases. Despite this, the state treasury has been unquestioningly releasing their salaries.
A senior police officer in Patna smells a “deep-rooted conspiracy”. The state government, he points out, would have paid out more than Rs 20 crore in salaries and allowances to the missing constables. “Everyone, from those marking attendance to others responsible for assigning duties, is responsible,” says the officer. He believes many of the missing cops might actually be doing other jobs, forking out a share of their ‘illegal’ salaries to those helping them.
But there could be a far more serious concern. “It needs to be seen if any of the missing cops was issued firearms,” says an officer, pointing to the fact that some of the men were marked as deployed on VIP security.
Kumar’s probe has also found that over a hundred personnel—constables, assistant sub-inspectors and subinspectors—have been at the same police station for more than five years when the prescribed norm is three years.
There is clearly a great deal amiss. Just two of the 200 missing policemen have reported back to the police lines since DIG Kumar began his probe. This is despite written warnings that the men would face departmental action if they failed to rejoin duty.
Besides collusion at the lower levels, the scam points to the apathy of senior officials. No red flags were raised even when as many as 500 policemen were on French leave. And this, at a time when most police stations in Patna face a severe shortage of manpower.
A 2017 Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPRD) report says that Bihar has one policeman per 1,337 persons. That’s less than half the national average of a policeman for 663.
Although Bihar’s police brass has yet to fix responsibility for the salary scam, the police headquarters in Patna has ordered physical verification of all constables in the state.
THE GOVERNMENT WOULD HAVE PAID Rs 20 CRORE IN SALARIES AND ALLOWANCES TO THE MISSING CONSTABLES