Union Home Minister P Chidambaram’s statements about the excessive transfers of top cops probably holds truer in Uttar Pradesh than any other state. Being “kicked around” is exactly what happens to them here, where the strength of IPS cadre is over 404 while the number of available IPS officers is 260.

There is no dearth of IPS officers who have faced more than 10 transfers after the formation of the BSP government. “We hope that the government that got full majority would ensure administrative stability. But the IPS officers are the worse victims of the state’s transfer policy,” lamented a senior IPS officer.

The government’s concern for the stability factor can be seen in the posting of seven IPS officers as IG (Personnel), considered as crucial in any government.

“The main task of the IG (Personnel) is proper management of the IPS cadre in the state. This department keeps the track record of the IPS officers. If IG (Personnel) cannot hope to get a stable tenure in his office, you can imagine the state of the IPS cadre management in UP,” remarked another IPS officer. Since May 2007 when the Maya government came to power, the office of IG (Personnel) has so far got seven IPS officers.

These are:

Rajdeep Singh: May 2007 to July 2007

Praveen Singh: July 2007 to February 2008

Kashmira Singh: February 2008 to May 2008

Harishchandra Kashyap: May 2008 to September 2008

G L Meena: September 2008 to February 2009

... contd.