COIMBATORE: As many as 1095 sub-inspectors of police, who were recruited directly in 2011, stepped into their 14th year of service on Thursday (February 1) without promotion since joining duty.
Desperate to grab the attention of the government, many of them posted status messages highlighting that theirs is the only batch in the force that is serving without promotion for the last 13 years.
Many personnel suggested that the government upgrade all the 423 police stations that are manned by sub-inspectors into inspector-led ones, and this would automatically result in promotions.
According to sources, in Tamil Nadu, grade-II constables usually get four promotions up to the sub-inspector rank. Direct DSPs get four promotions up to the rank of Inspector General and Indian Police Service officers get at least six promotions up to the Director General of Police rank. But those selected as sub-inspectors can get at least three promotions — Inspector, DSP and SP.
“Appointment of sub-inspectors directly is a very important role in maintaining law and order. They are appointed considering their young age and would respond faster to a situation than others. But since they have not been given promotion for so long, they are under a a lot of stress. Some would have lost interest in work which affects policing,” a senior police officer serving in Coimbatore city said.
“Many of the direct recruits were aged 23-25 and around 160 were recruited under department quota. Most of us are in the mid-forties now, but remain in the same rank. Even if we are promoted now, we will not go beyond the rank of Inspector. We hope the government would soon give us promotion at least this year” said a sub-inspector from the 2011 batch.
He recalled that when M Karunanidhi was the chief minister in 2009, he promoted grade- II constables as grade-I after 10 years of service, as head constables after 15 years of service and as SSI (Special Sub-Inspectors) after 25 years of service.
“While recruits to other government jobs get promoted in 5 to 7 years, for us it has remained a dream. It has caused us a lot of mental stress,” he added.
When contacted, an IG-rank officer based in Chennai said on the condition of anonymity that a C-list of the sub-inspectors, except those who face charges, was submitted to the Head of the Police Force (HoPF/DGP) for promotion a year ago. Also, a proposal for upgrading the sub-inspector-manned stations to Inspector-rank stations was listed and placed before the state government. But no decision has been taken allegedly due to shortage of funds.
“The station upgradation was proposed based on the crime ratio. If the government considers the upgradation of those stations, there would be a need for inspectors and the sub-inspectors who have been waiting for their promotions for more than 13 years would benefit,” he said. Head of Police Force and Director General of Police (DGP) Shankar Jiwal did not offer a comment.