IPS division could hit law and order in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The current method for division of IPS officers between the two to-be-formed states of Telangana an Andhra could give rise to an untenable situation in Hyderabad.

Division of the IPS cadre is being done in a 10:13 ratio according to the number of districts in Telangana and Andhra, with majority officer going to Andhra. However, top police officials say the method is illogical as it doesn’t account for Hyderabad and Cyberabad jurisdictions which have 21 IPS officers.

Hyderabad city police will also be left with just one IPS officer of the rank of inspector-general, meaning that the posts of additional commissioner for traffic and crimes will have to be done away with and the responsibilities of three departments will have to be handled by just one IG instead of the current three.

Presently, there are 21 IPS cadre officers in Hyderabad and Cyberabad police. The Hyderabad police commissioner is of additional DG rank while the Cyberabad commissioner is of inspector-general rank.

There are three additional commissioners in Hyderabad city police,  for Traffic, Crime and Law and Order, who are all of IG rank. Additionally, there are range IGs governing the districts.

However, senior police officials say the division will leave Telangana and hence Hyderabad with fewer IPS officers and even fewer IG rank police officers.

“In Andhra, requirement of IPS cadre is less because even in Visakhapatnam police, there are just three or four IPS including rural SP. The logic in dividing according to the number of districts is baffling because in Hyderabad alone there are 21 IPS officers with four IGs,” a police official of IG rank said.

Telangana will be left with just about five or six IGs and after deputation to ranges, only two or three IGs will be left for Hyderabad and Cyberabad. This means the posts of additional commissioners of police for traffic and crimes might have to be done away with.

Sources said this is already under consideration and a decision will be taken. Such a situation will mean that one additional commissioner for law and order of Hyderabad city police will have to manage law and order as well as traffic and crimes, a job done by three persons now.

“It will become an unmanageable situation. With three additional commissioner posts, we are finding it difficult to run the show, how will one person do it? That too when governments of two states are going to function from here,” a senior police official said.

The system is in stark contrast to that in Chandigarh, the joint capital of Haryana and Punjab, where considering the scale of the city and two governments functioning, police officers are drawn from the IPS cadre of both Haryana and Punjab.