By Purushottam P. Khatri

Kathmandu, Jan. 13: Over 10,000 police personnel, including several Deputy Inspector Generals (DIGs), the one-star police officer of Nepal Police, have quit the force in the past six years.
According to a record of Nepal Police Headquarters, Naxal, in the past six years, 10,267 personnel and officers resigned.
From Mid-April 2019 to December, 2019, three Superintendents of Police (SPs) and 3,073 other police personnel had quit.
According to an understanding of Nepal Police, majority of the junior police personnel opted for going abroad as migrant workers after quitting police job.
In 2018, three Deputy Inspectors General (DIGs) Ramesh Kharel, Navaraj Silwal, and Shila Kanshakar Karki (Technical) left their services citing dissatisfaction over the job.
Expressing dissatisfaction over the promotion of their peers which killed their opportunity to become the Inspector General, DIG Kharel and Silwal had quit the job. DIG Kharel had announced his resignation on April 11, 2018, after the government appointed DIG Sarbendra Khanal as the IGP. He publicly said that government’s decision had hurt his dignity and pride.
Earlier to this, SSP Ghanananda Bhatta, Subodh Ghimire, SP Gorakh Singh Bhandari, Sanukaji Lamichhane and Narendra Upreti also resigned from their jobs.
On January 16, 2015, Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Ghanananda Bhatta resigned for ‘promoting officials junior to him’. DIG Shila Kansakar quit the service on December 7, 2018, citing ‘private reasons’.
The number personnel quitting the police force is high among police constables, according to Nepal Police Headquarters spokesperson and DIG Shailesh Thapa Kshetri. In the past six years, 6,100 police constables quit the force. Similarly, 1,673 police followers, 1623 Assistant Sub-Inspectors (ASIs) and 513 Sub Inspectors quit the job.
Apart from this, 262 other police staff members left the job within this period, according to the police.
Majority of cops, who quit the service, mentioned their ‘private and domestic problems’ as the reason for resignation, DIG Kshetri said.
The Police Headquarters had also issued an internal circular for discouraging the increasing trend of quitting the force. But the police authority seems to have not worked properly to stop the trend. A few months ago, the Police Headquarter had also taken initiative to find out the reason behind the exodus of many junior police personnel.
“In every organisation, be it government or private, an employee has the right to quit anytime. Security body is no exception and the organisation takes the resignation normally. Nepal Police is a dynamic body of the Government of Nepal and resignations do not affect its business. This creates employment opportunity for newcomers,” DIG Kshetri said.
Retired AIG of Nepal Police Rajendra Singh Bhandari said that if the Nepal Police Headquarters had to retain its personnel and if it really wanted to create attraction of Nepal Police job among its personnel and newcomers, it needed to create specific programmes to revitalise the image of Nepal Police to win the trust of its personnel.
Problems at home, low remuneration and perks and better opportunities in foreign countries are some of the reasons that encourage policemen to give up their jobs, Bhandari said.
“Many junior cops do not want to continue working after being eligible for pension and getting the opportunity to participate in UN peacekeeping missions. Such resignations and new recruitments prompt the security body to fill the vacancy,” Bhandari said.
Junior police personnel, who are below 35, are eligible to get better opportunities abroad on the ground of their working experience in the security agency. Gulf and war-torn countries have become their favoured destinations.
According to Headquarters, as of the current fiscal year, the government had endorsed new vacancy of 6,697 in Nepal Police to fulfill the vacant posts. At present, Nepal Police has a total of 75,927 vacancies.