Acute shortage of middle and top rung police officers in Kerala is hurting the state police’s functioning, especially in the wake of Covid-19 lockdown.
According to the latest figures obtained from the Police Headquarters, against authorised cadre strength of 172 posts, 35 posts are lying vacant at present, which means one-fifth of the total IPS posts need to be filled.
The posts lying vacant include 9 at IG level, 2 at DIG level and 24 at Superintendent (SP) level.
These vacancies were to be filled by promoting junior officers to IPS, but due to various reasons, that process has been stalled since 2017.
Meanwhile, manpower crunch continues to affect the functioning of the department as senior officers have to juggle various responsibilities.
State Police Chief Loknath Behera said officers are on their toes under the prevailing circumstances.
