Kolkata, May 25 (IANS) The process has begun to recall those Kolkata Police personnel who were transferred to punishment postings in districts ten years ago, in 2016, by the previous Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government for reportedly playing an impartial role in the Assembly elections that year by strictly following the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s guidelines and ignoring the verbal directions of the ruling party leaders.

An insider from the city police said that as many as 82 junior-level police officers were shunted to punishment postings to other districts in 2016, and none have been brought back to Kolkata Police in the last 10 years. Then the current Trinamool Congress Rajya Sabha member and former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, Rajeev Kumar, was the Commissioner of Kolkata Police.

“In January 2024, when the Bhangar Division was included within the jurisdiction of the Kolkata Police, then-city police commissioner and now-suspended IPS officer, Vineet Kumar Goyal, made an attempt to bring back the 82 police officers to the city police to meet the additional manpower requirement following the creation of the new division. However, that proposal from Goyal did not get the approval from the higher authorities,” said a city police insider.

Now, the current city police commissioner, Ajay Nand, has again started the formal process to bring those 82 police officers back to the Kolkata Police. He also wrote to the state home department seeking permission to bring these personnel back under the fold of the city police.

At the same time, he has also requested the transfer of some cops from the state police to Kolkata Police to meet the manpower shortage to some extent for the interim period till fresh recruitments are made.

The proposal is awaiting clearance from the state home department. Currently, the total number of vacancies for sub-inspectors in Kolkata Police is 673. “Whether it was the police station level or at the different unit levels, the sub-inspectors are the base of the entire investigation process. So, shortage of staff at that level often hampers smooth functioning,” said the city police insider.

–IANS

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