By Our Correspondent
BHUBANESWAR: With the Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi led BJP Government is yet to take a call on 1990 batch IPS Officer, YB Khurania, who was repatriated to his home cadre of Odisha following poor show as Special DG BSF (West), speculations are now started doing in media circle, that the Saffron Government may not go for a Non-Odia IPS Officer to head Police headquarters’ in Cuttack.
IPS officers serving central posting for a long time were made DGPs in Odisha in past. IPS officers like Sunil Kumar Bansal and Abhay posted as DGPs and both were completely failed in maintaining law and order situation in the State. Bansal and Abhay had spent most of their time outside Odisha.
Well informed sources keeping close watch on Police administration argued that , Policing is like a field game. The Captain of the team must know his players. An unfamiliar Captain cannot effectively lead the battle.
After January 2020, as many as 2 DGPs were brought in from central deputation, and they both failed miserably. Their level of failure was directly related to their lack of presence in the Odisha .
Ex DGP Bansal failed more than another Ex Odisha Police Chief, Abhay, as he had spent his entire career in the Intelligence Bureau. During his two-year tenure, the Odisha Police regressed by 20 years, sources said. He made no decisions himself and instead delegated his decision-making power to a few of his close associates.
A new subculture developed under his regime, where SP rank officers began bypassing the DGP. They stopped attending the office regularly and delegated all work to their subordinates. The current DGP now faces the daunting task of restoring order.
1990 batch IPS Officer Y B Kharania left Odisha on central deputation long ago. During his seven-year absence from the Odisha, more than 35 IPS officers, almost one-fourth of Odisha’s IPS cadre strength of 132, joined the force.
Many of them are now functioning as SPs. It’s unrealistic to expect him to know the hundreds of DSPs, Inspectors, and Sub-inspectors who donned the khaki for Odisha Police during this period. Furthermore, he was mostly working with the BSF and was not keeping track of events in Odisha as a police officer.
In contrast, incumbent DGP Arun Sarangi , who belongs Odisha’s Balangir, remained within the cadre. He has maintained relationships and stayed connected with all sections of Odia society. He is meticulous in his work and served as the Director of Biju Patnaik State Police Academy (BPSPA) during this period.
Therefore, he knows all the officers from IPS to SI who joined the Odisha Police. He is well aware of the personal traits of each officer, having trained and interacted with them personally, sources argued.
DGP Arun Sarangi’s performances as IGP (Operations) during peak hours of left-wing insurgency in the south-western range police range headquarters at Sunebeda comprising districts of Malkangiri, Koraput, Rayagada, later his tenure as IGP(Law and Order) and IGP North Central range headquarters at Talcher remained as a hallmark people friendly policing.
