Hyderabad police propose faster promotions for constables
HYDERABAD: Constables in the state police have long faced delays of over two decades for a single promotion. A proposal sent by Director General of Police Shivadhar Reddy to the government now seeks to address this issue by restructuring staff ratios.
At present, promotions are slow due to the existing hierarchy. Constables often wait 16–27 years to become head constables, while head constables wait another 8–11 years to be promoted as assistant sub-inspectors (ASI). This has led to low morale among field-level personnel.
DGP proposes new staff structure across categories
Police stations are currently classified from ‘A’ to ‘E’ based on population and crime rate. In ‘D’ and ‘E’ categories, each head constable supervises seven constables, while in ‘A’, ‘B’ and ‘C’ categories, the number is five. Overall, each ASI or Armed Reserve ASI supervises three head constables and 13 constables.
The DGP has proposed a revised structure with two head constables and four constables per ASI/ARSI across all categories. The aim is to improve promotion prospects for constables.
15,582 promotions likely if plan implemented
The police department currently has 81,555 personnel across constable, head constable and ASI/ARSI ranks. If the proposal is approved, 15,582 personnel could receive promotions including 8,560 constables and 7,022 head constables.
While the total cadre strength will remain unchanged, the number of constables will reduce by 15,582, with a corresponding increase in higher ranks. This will create vacancies at the constable level, which will need to be filled through fresh recruitment.
The proposed changes are expected to place an additional burden of ₹71.3 crore on the government.
