Cuttack: The Orissa high court has sought a response from the state govt on a public interest litigation (PIL) highlighting rising stress levels, mental health concerns and acute manpower shortages in the Odisha police, with the petitioner urging immediate systemic reforms to safeguard personnel.A division bench comprising Chief Justice Harish Tandon and Justice M S Raman issued a notice to the director general of police (DGP) during a hearing on July 15 and directed him to file a reply within two weeks. The matter has been posted to July 29 for further hearing.The PIL was filed on April 6 by Cuttack-based lawyer Shivsankar Mohanty, who argued the case in person. The petition contends that mounting workplace pressure, long working hours and a shortage of personnel have led to growing incidents of depression, burnout and other mental health issues among police personnel.Mohanty urged the court to direct the DGP to take immediate and effective measures to address depression, workplace stress and the overall mental well-being of police personnel. The plea also sought directions to expedite recruitment and fill long-pending vacancies, arguing that the manpower deficit has substantially increased the workload on serving personnel.To underline the seriousness of the issue, the petition referred to several incidents involving police and prison staff. These include the mysterious death of a jail warden at Jharpada Special Jail in Bhubaneswar on March 6, the alleged suicide of a constable at the Nayagarh reserve police campus on Feb 5 and the resignation of a woman havildar in Angul on April 4, reportedly due to prolonged workplace pressure.The petition also highlighted significant vacancies across the police force. It stated that the civil police has an actual strength of 25,766 personnel against a sanctioned strength of 35,024, while the armed reserve has 9,423 personnel against 10,579 sanctioned posts. It further pointed to 1,634 vacant sub-inspector posts and 6,218 vacancies in the constabulary.According to the plea, Odisha’s police-population ratio stands at 55.82 personnel per one lakh population, considerably below the sanctioned ratio of 75.88 per one lakh. The petitioner alleged that the shortage has not only affected policing efficiency but has also intensified stress levels among serving personnel, making urgent intervention essential.
