Punjab government on Friday ordered immediate steps to fill 4000 existing police vacancies across ranks. Besides, directions were also issued to ensure that 2000 police personnel are recruited every year to fill the vacancies arising annually out of the routine retirement of cops.
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh, chairing the meeting of senior officials of Home and Police departments, issued strict instructions for ensuring that all vacancies in the vital police department, which is crucial to maintaining law and order in the state, be filled up on priority, on a regular basis.
Expressing concern over the shortfall of police personnel for law and order duty, the Chief Minister, who has already initiated sweeping reforms in the police department including diversion of cops from VIP duty, warned that his government would brook no delay in the matter of filling up police vacancies.
Timely recruitment would also help in generating the much-needed employment for youth in the state, he said, adding that his government was committed to provide jobs for the unemployed youth, with at least one job in each household, as promised in the run-up to the assembly polls.
The progress on territorial restructuring of the police stations in the wake of abolition of halqa in-charge system, which the state cabinet had earlier approved, was also reviewed.
The Chief Minister directed the officials to expedite the process of restructuring the police stations to delink them from the assembly constituencies and unshackle the force from the political stranglehold created by the previous SAD-BJP government.
He stressed the need to free the police from any kind of political or other interference in their functioning.
Capt Amarinder also directed the officials to ensure that police officials are allowed a free hand to work within the ambit of the law, while also taking care to ensure that no vindictive action is resorted to by the cops at any level, right from the lowest rung at the police stations.