Half of police posts in UP are vacant; national average at 24%

UP - termed as worst state in law and order by NCRB - is facing a shortage of 1.81 lakh personnel

Vacancy in Uttar Pradesh Police stood at a whopping 50 per cent, more than double the national average of 24 per cent.

The total sanctioned strength of police personnel in all states and Union Territories is 22,80,691, of which 5,49,025 or 24.02 per cent is lying vacant, officials said.

In Uttar Pradesh, there are only 1.81 lakh police personnel working against the sanctioned strength of 3.63 lakhs, to take care of the state's 21 crore population.

The state, which has the highest population and is termed as the "worst state" in India in terms of law and order by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), is facing a shortage of 1.81 lakh personnel, they said.

In 2015, the state had registered 1,239 cases per 1,00,000 population.

Uttar Pradesh was followed by Karnataka, where there is a shortage 35 per cent of the total strength. The sanctioned strength for Karnataka is 1,10,210 personnel and it is facing a shortage of 39,276 police personnel.

Following Karnataka is West Bengal, where around 33 per cent of the posts in civil and armed police forces is lying vacant. The sanctioned police strength for the state is 1,01,482, out of which 33,630 posts are lying vacant, they said.

Among the states and UTs, only Nagaland and Dadra and Nagar Haveli have more policemen than the sanctioned strength.

In Delhi, a total of 5,894 posts out of 82,242 sanctioned posts are lying vacant.

Among the Left Wing Extremism-affected States, most posts are lying vacant in Jharkhand and Telangana (26 per cent), followed by Bihar (23.9 per cent), Odisha (16.23 per cent), Andhra Pradesh (16.2 per cent) and Chhattisgarh (15.84 per cent), they added.

Among the northeastern states, Mizoram is facing a shortage of 2,828 (25.1 per cent) police personnel out of the total sanctioned strengthen of 11,263 personnel, while Manipur has a vacancy of 6,932 posts (21.6%) out of 32,078 sanctioned posts.

In Meghalaya, 16 per cent posts are lying vacant while in Arunachal Pradesh, 1,841 posts out of 12,764 sanctioned strength are lying vacant, and in Assam, 7,916 posts (over 14 per cent) out of 53,400 sanctioned posts are vacant. In Tripura, 3,430 posts out of 27,448 sanctioned posts are yet to be filled.

Only Nagaland stands out with a surplus of 690 police personnel. The state has a strength of 21,574 posts but it has 22,264 personnel, the officials said.

Similarly, the Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli has more police personnel than the sanctioned posts. It has 310 posts sanctioned by the government but it has 334 police personnel.

Of the southern states, Kerala has a shortage of 6,621 personnel (10.9%) and Tamil Nadu 26,054 personnel (19.1%) out of sanctioned strength of 1,36,002 personnel.

In Gujarat, 32,556 posts out of 1,03,047 sanctioned are lying vacant, Haryana 19,305 posts out of 61,691 sanctioned posts, Maharashtra 15,099 posts out of 1,91,143 sanctioned posts and Madhya Pradesh 22,736 posts are lying vacant, the officials said.

Among the Union Territories, Chandigarh is facing a shortage of 852 personnel, Andaman and Nicobar Islands 556 personnel, Lakshadweep 66 personnel and Puducherry 862 personnel, they added.