By Purushottam P. Khatri

Kathmandu, Apr. 11: The government has finally slashed the vacancies of Deputy Inspectors General (DIGs) in Nepal Police although the Police Headquarters was not willing to do so immediately.
At present, 34 vacancies of DIGs, including eight for technical posts, exist in Nepal Police.
According to Ministry of Home Affairs, the government has slashed the vacancies of non-technical DIGs and brought down to 14. However, the eight posts of the technical DIGs have been kept intact.
At present, Nepal Police have 26 vacancies for the non-technical DIGs.
“The decision on this regard was taken by the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers on Thursday (April 9) and a letter of the decision arrived at the Ministry and a copy of it was sent to the Police Headquarters,” Umakanta Adhikari, under-secretary and joint-spokesperson at the Home Ministry, said.
Of the total 26 posts of the DIGs, 22 have remained vacant, and only four DIGs are serving in Nepal Police.
Following the fixation of new vacancies, the government has to fill up 10 vacancies by giving promotion to the senior most SSPs.
There are currently 34 senior most SSPs waiting for their promotions.
With the latest decision of the government, now there will be a tough competition among the SSPs to get the promotion in just 10 vacancies.
Former DIG Hemanta Malla Thakuri said that the government’s decision to reduce the vacancies could create frustration in the organisation. He said that the decision should have taken according to the recommendation of the Police Headquarters.
No any vacancy in the force can be changed without carrying an organisation and management (O&M) survey as per the existing Nepal Police Regulation 2014, but the government bypassed the process, said Malla.
At present, SSPs Prakash Jung Karki, Basanta Panta, Ishwar Babu Karki, Ghanashyam Aryal, Purushottam Kandel, Dhiraj Pratap Singh, Uttam Raj Subedi, Dibesh Lohani, Basanta Kumar Lama, Rabindra Dhanuk, Shahakul Thapa, Dilip Chaudhary, Ganesh Air, Dev Bahadur Bohara, Rajesh Lal Karn, Arun Kumar B.C. and Ramkripal Sah are in the race for the posts of DIG.