Bhubaneswar: Calls are growing within Odisha police for an inquiry into allegations that lower-rank personnel are being deployed for household and other menial work at residences of some retired IPS officers.Several police personnel, preferring anonymity, urged the state govt to order a thorough probe and take action if the allegations are found to be true.“Everyone, including senior IPS officers in the department, knows that some retired officers continue to get the privilege and receive services of follower orderlies (FOs) at their residences,” a police officer alleged.Another officer said IPS officers draw the highest salaries and pensions in the police department and should make their own arrangements for domestic help instead of relying on police manpower. They wonder how such deployments could continue, given that the daily assignment of every police personnel is officially recorded and monitored by senior officers.With allegations surfacing repeatedly over unauthorised deployment of police personnel at the offices and quarters of several serving officers through ‘verbal orders’, former DGP Y B Khurania had issued a circular in May cautioning against the practice. The circular warned of action against violators and stated that no personnel should be deployed on the basis of verbal orders.DGP (in-charge) Vinaytosh Mishra said the matter involving alleged deployment of personnel in houses of some ex-IPS officers would be examined. “Normally, officers are allowed to retain FOs for up to three months after retirement or until they vacate their official residences,” Mishra told TOI.However, another senior officer offered a different perspective. “Some home guards are staying in outhouses attached to private residences of a few retired IPS officers to save on accommodation expenses. They may help with household work after completing their official duties. This is not illegal,” the officer said.
