West Bengal Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari has announced recruitment for 10,544 additional police vacancies, alongside the ongoing appointment process for 27,556 personnel, as the state seeks to address a police-population gap and strengthen policing, fire services and forest departments.
Speaking at a programme at Kolkata Police headquarters in Lalbazar, Adhikari handed appointment letters to 309 newly recruited sub-inspectors and said recruitment notifications for the additional vacancies would be issued soon. He said large-scale appointments across police, fire services and the forest department were planned over the next six months.
The chief minister said 11,902 candidates had been selected against the 27,556 posts already advertised. Of these, 6,345 posts were earmarked for women. More than 1,100 candidates selected for sub-inspector and assistant sub-inspector-level positions are expected to receive appointment letters in December and January, while more than 4,000 constable appointments are planned for Kolkata Police, according to the announcement.
“Recruitment will be conducted through Police Recruitment Board. Everything will be transparent and based on merit and in accordance with recruitment rules,” Adhikari said.
Adhikari cited police-population figures to underline the staffing pressure facing West Bengal. According to figures presented by him, the national average is 155 police personnel per lakh population, compared with 105 personnel per lakh in Bengal. The figures place recruitment at the centre of the state’s effort to expand frontline public services and improve police availability.
The chief minister also attributed delays in filling about 46,000 sanctioned vacancies to legal complications following a 2024 Calcutta High Court judgment that struck down the inclusion of 78 communities in the Other Backward Classes list by the previous government. Adhikari said the state government had amended the OBC law and withdrawn its case from the Supreme Court, clearing the way for recruitment.
He alleged that the previous government had neglected the police force and said Bengal Police were lagging in infrastructure, logistics, professionalism and training. The current government, he said, was taking steps towards modernisation and had signed a memorandum of understanding with the Assam Police Training Centre to improve training.
The state government will also write to the Centre seeking new battalions of India Reserve Battalions in West Bengal, Adhikari said. The announcement adds a central-government coordination request to the state’s recruitment and modernisation plans.
The staffing announcement comes as the state government prepares to distribute appointment letters across different ranks and departments. Adhikari said more than 1,100 SI and ASI-level appointments would be completed in December and January, while constable recruitment for Kolkata Police would exceed 4,000 appointments. Further recruitment notifications for the 10,544 vacancies are expected to be issued through the Police Recruitment Board.
