The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Police recruitment to be scaled down

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 26, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Police recruitment to be scaled down

Special Correspondent

For the present, the State could go in for recruitment of about 1,000 to 2,000 personnel

The estimated requirement is of 27,000 policemen
YSR, Jana discuss financial implications with police officials

HYDERABAD: Faced with a financial crunch, the Government is likely to scale down the mass recruitment of police personnel proposed as part of the modernisation and strengthening of the force to meet challenges like terrorism.

For the present, the Government could go in for recruitment of about 1,000 to 2,000 personnel against an estimated requirement of 27,000.

Indications for this were available from a prolonged meeting the Chief Minister, Y. S. Rajasekhara Reddy, had with Home Minister K. Jana Reddy and top police officers here on Tuesday.

Sources said the meeting spent a long time deliberating on financial implications of the recruitment drive.

The Chief Minister reportedly noted that the mass recruitment of 27,000 personnel would place a heavy additional burden on the exchequer. Another problem was that the entire funds required to increase the police force, equip them with sophisticated weaponry and improve the system would have to be raised under non-plan budget head. “This will be a difficult task,” he is believed to have observed.

Dr Reddy is stated to have asked the Home Minister to work out the financial burden and finalise the plan on Wednesday. It was Dr. Reddy who suggested that fresh recruitment could be restricted to 1,000 to 2,000 for now.

Presentation made

The Minister and senior police officials made a presentation on the modernisation plans while stressing on developing a “strong counter-intelligence network” to tackle terrorism and extremism. They explained various aspects of OCTOPUS (Organisation to Counter Terrorists Operations), the elite anti-terrorist outfit proposed under the modernisation plan.

The meeting unanimously resolved that OCTOPUS should have three wings, one for counter-intelligence, another for field operations and a third for the information system to be introduced using IT-enabled services.

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