24.8 per cent vacancy in country's police forces: Haribhai Parathibai Chaudhary

NEW DELHI: There is a 24.8 per cent vacancy in country's police forces, including both state and Centre, as per the latest records compiled in this regard till 2013, government today said.

"As per data compiled by the Bureau of Police Research and Development, as on January 1, 2013, against total sanctioned strength of 22,09,027 posts of police personnel in all the states and Union Territories, 16,60,666 personnel were in position leading to a shortfall of 5,48,361 personnel, which is about 24.8 per cent of the sanctioned posts," Minister of State for Home Haribhai Parathibai Chaudhary said in a written reply to Lok Sabha.

He added that as of the same date, the "sanctioned and actual strength of police personnel at all India level per one lakh population in India is 181.47 and 136.42 respectively. The police-population ration has shown wide variations across the country. Sparsely populated states such as Tripura, Nagaland, Manipur and Mizoram among others have the maximum police-population ratio as compared to the national average of 181 police personnel per lakh of population."