Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis clarified in the legislative assembly on Wednesday that the 3,000 constables to be recruited on contractual basis in the Mumbai police force will not be given any law enforcement or investigation-related duties.
Fadnavis said that the proposed recruitments would be strictly for 11 months or a shorter period, and that the personnel recruited through such process would be given only guarding and security-related static duties. He also assured the house that regular police recruitment on a contractual basis would never be possible.
The external agency through which the recruitments will be made is the government's own State Security Corporation. Fadnavis said that such recruitments of security personnel through the corporation have been made several times in the past in several other establishments of the state government.
Fadnavis also informed the house that a process for regular recruitment of 18,331 police constables across the state is also underway. He said that the acute shortage of human resources in the Mumbai police force is due to the fact that around 1,500 police personnel retire from the force in Mumbai every year, and that new recruitments did not take place for three years starting 2019 due to COVID restrictions. In addition, at least 500 police personnel have died due to various reasons during this time, and many have been transferred to districts across the state.
Fadnavis said that the recruitment of 3,000 contractual constables is a temporary measure to address the immediate manpower shortage in the Mumbai police force. He assured the house that regular police recruitment will be completed as soon as possible.
