Law and order situation in Odisha peaceful, decrease in Maoist violence

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Thursday informed the state Assembly that the overall law and order situation in the state has remained by and large peaceful.

No major communal incident took place. There was no significant law and order incident on the students, services, industrial, labor and agrarian fronts.

Maoist Situation

Participating in the discussion of demands on Home and General Administration departments, he said the Maoist violence has come down in the state.

Intensity of overall Maoist violence has come down in the state during the year 2015 and 2016 so far. There is a significant reduction of Maoist’s strength.

48 Maoists including state committee members have been neutralized while 88 LWE members have been arrested and 95 have surrendered in the state during the year  2015 and 2016 (till 30th November).

Besides, a large number of pro-Maoist militias and sympathizers have publicly announced the withdrawal of their support from the Maoists in Malkangiri district, which is a very encouraging development.

Attempts by Maoists to intensify their activities in Kalahandi, Kandhamal, Boudh and Nayagarh districts have been contained due to pro-active police action.

In order to increase the mobile telephone connectivity in the LWE affected areas, 248 towers have been operationalised and proposal for installation of 518 more towers covering LWE affected districts has been sent to the center for approval.

Crime against women

The government has created several institutional mechanisms like Integrated Anti-Human Trafficking Units, Investigation Units for Crime against Women and Mahila and Sishu Desks with commensurate manpower.

All women related heinous crimes are regularly monitored and Special Public Prosecutors are engaged. In order to augment the capacity of the police force, 238 new posts in different ranks have been created during 2016.

Recruitment

The problem of the vacancy in Sub-Inspector of police has now been greatly addressed by recruitment of 792 Sub-Inspectors this week.

Odisha Industrial Security Force has been created with the recruitment of 1370 police personnel for providing security support to industrial and institutional establishments. Besides, 32 posts of legal advisers have been created for 32 police districts to improve the quality of investigation relating to heinous crimes to secure better conviction rates.

810 ASOs under Odisha Secretariat Service have been recruited after a long gap and 730 have already joined. In addition, 139 ASOs have joined through Special Recruitment drive for Scheduled Tribes.

Odisha Public Service Commission has initiated the process for cadre recruitment of 12 Public Prosecutors, 21 Additional Public Prosecutors and 192 Assistant Public Prosecutors.

General Administration

Odisha Civil Services Examination is now being conducted in a timely manner and 670 officers have been appointed to OAS and other civil services during this year. Odisha Public Service Commission has recommended 2430 candidates for various services, Odisha Staff Selection Commission has recommended 1105 and Odisha Subordinate Staff Selection Commission has recommended 1460 candidates during this year.

Vigilance cases

The vigilance organization has registered 496 criminal cases this year against 1004 accused persons including 135 class-I officers, 79 class-II officers, 511 class-III employees and others.

Out of the cases, 87 cases have been instituted for possession of disproportionate assets case by 97 public servants and 23 private persons.

During this period, 315 have been arrested including 32 class-I officers, 28 class-II officers and 182 class-III employees and others.