Assam Police short of 12,485 personnel, lacks 2,257 vehicles for operations

Guwahati, Aug 25: The Assam Police is currently facing a significant shortage of personnel and vehicles, according to official documents from the Home Department.

The force is grappling with vacancies across various ranks, including Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Inspector General of Police (IG), Deputy Inspector General of Police (DIG), and Superintendent of Police (SP).

Additionally, the state police force is operating with just over 70% of the vehicles required to run its operations efficiently.

As per the report, the total sanctioned strength of the Assam Police is 79,852, including 4,835 personnel from the Assam Police Radio Organisation (APRO).

However, 12,485 positions—amounting to 15.64% of the required manpower—are currently vacant.

Notably, three out of six sanctioned positions for ADGP are vacant. Similarly, three IG posts out of 14 sanctioned are unfilled, and nine out of 15 DIG positions are currently vacant.

The documents further reveal that several key positions, including SP, Assistant Inspector General of Police (AIG), Commandant, and Senior SP, are unfilled out of a total of 147 sanctioned posts in the Assam Police.

The shortage extends to the Additional SP rank, where 68 out of 168 posts are vacant, and 146 Deputy SP positions remain unoccupied out of a sanctioned strength of 483 across Assam. Vacancies persist at every level of the state police force.

In addition to personnel shortages, the force is also experiencing a critical lack of vehicles. According to the Bureau of Police Research and Development (BPR&D), Assam Police needs 7,800 vehicles to function optimally.

Currently, the force has only 5,543 vehicles, both owned and rented, which is just 71.06 percent of the required number.