Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi revealed that compassionate appointments will be extended to the families of home guards who have lost their lives while serving
OdishaPlus Bureau
During a series of announcements regarding the police department, Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi declared on Saturday the lifting of the recruitment ban on home guards that had been in place since February 2020. In response to the discussion on the Home department’s budget in the Assembly, the chief minister stated that 2,298 vacant positions for home guards will be filled.
He revealed that compassionate appointments will be extended to the families of home guards who have lost their lives while serving. A family member of a home guard who has died due to Naxal violence or similar circumstances will be offered a government job, he confirmed.
Majhi declared the establishment of 1,000 positions for traffic police, 4,000 positions for the Odisha Industrial Security Force (OISF), the approval of 10 ODRAF teams, and the creation of one police outpost for each of the 10 government medical colleges.
Additionally, there will be one outpost at the Baramunda inter-state bus terminal and the allocation of 9,000 motorcycles for inspectors, sub-inspectors, and assistant sub-inspectors. The chief minister also authorized the filling of 2,922 vacancies across various ranks within the Odisha Police and 1,083 positions in the newly-formed Special Security Battalion in Puri.
The chief minister announced a budget allocation of Rs. 117 crore for the emergency response system (112), stating that the central government has approved the Odisha government’s action plan amounting to Rs. 200 crore aimed at enhancing the capacity of the Fire Services department.
The state government has allocated Rs. 540 crore from the State Disaster Relief Fund to upgrade the capabilities of 346 fire stations, along with an extra Rs. 200 crore to further bolster fire and emergency services within the state. He also mentioned that five regional hubs will be established in Cuttack, Balasore, Sambalpur, Berhampur and Rayagada to enhance disaster response systems, with the process of land identification and equipment procurement for these hubs already underway.
He stated that the Fire Services department has initiated the training of ten search and rescue dogs to respond to disasters such as landslides and building collapses. These dogs are scheduled to be deployed in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Puri, Angul, Berhampur, Koraput, Sambalpur, Rourkela and Balasore within the next six months. The training is being conducted by the Odisha Fire and Emergency Services in partnership with the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
