Superintendent of Police S.D. Sharanappa said here on Sunday that shortage of staff in the department hampered “24 hours” policing services in Dakshina Kannada.
Talking during the monthly grievance redressing meeting of the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe people, Mr. Sharanappa said while the United Nations prescribed 250 policemen per 1 lakh population and the national average was around 113 per 1 lakh, the ratio in the district was barely 70 policemen per 1 lakh people.
“What this does is there is pendency of cases, and lack of manpower to cover the entire jurisdiction coming under a station,” he said, adding that there was a need to revise the sanctioned strength of the police.
While home guards were being deputed to enhance security and monitoring of spots, he admitted that not many guards were coming forward because of the “low” renumeration given by the government. “They will get better pay working for a private firm,” said Mr. Sharanappa. The process to fill 50 vacancies was underway, with the physical endurance test for the candidates completed, he said. “However, they have an examination to write and then there is a training period. It will take at least 1.5 years for them to join the force here,” he said.
While Puttur Town Police station faced severe shortage with more than 10 constable posts empty, Belthangady police station was the most “stressed” because of the large area it had to cover. “For the past year, we have asked the State government to sanction a police station at Dharmasthala and a traffic police station at Bantwal,” he said.
