Patna, Jan. 8: Eight newly recruited Indian Police Service (IPS) officers would take up assignments in Bihar by mid-June this year.

At present, the officers are on an official visit under a familiarisation programme to get acquainted with the state earmarked as their cadre. In addition, the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has cleared the names of three Bihar Police Service (BPS) officers for their promotion to the IPS cadre under the state quota. This will help the government, to some extent in tiding over the shortage of the IPS officers in the state.

The eight directly recruited officers of the 2013 batch are at present undergoing training at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy, Hyderabad. Six of them - Amakesh D, Maneesh, Rakesh Kumar, Upendra Nath Verma, Vishal Sharma and J. Jala Reddy met senior officers at the state police headquarters recently.

Sources said two of their batch mates - Ramchandra Rajguru and Gaurav Mangla - couldn't join them as they were on leave. The trainee IPS officers also took part in the training programme organised by the Bihar Human Rights Commission for the policemen of the state on December 31, 2014 in Patna.

'The IPS officers belonging to the 2013 batch would be able to take up new assignments by mid-June. They have already completed the first part of their training at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy, Hyderabad. They will join the state after completing their second round of training,' a senior IPS officer said.

He revealed that only five IPS officers were allotted Bihar cadre in 2012. In 2011, six IPS officers had joined the state while eight officers were given Bihar cadre in 2010. At present, the state has 182 serving officers against the sanctioned strength of 231. Of them, 36 officers are on central deputation. There is still a shortfall of 49 officers in the state.

Sources in the police headquarters said the shortfall in the IPS cadre is likely to increase as 10 officers would retire from their service in 2015. Of them, three are in the director-general (DG) rank, six in the deputy inspector-general (DIG) rank and one in the superintendent of police (SP) rank, respectively.

R.C. Sinha, Sunit Kumar and S.K. Bhardwaj, all in the DG rank, would retire from their service this year. While Bhardwaj, posted as DG-cum-commandant of homeguards and fire services, would retire on March 31, R.C. Sinha, holding the post of DG-cum-commandant of civil defence, is schedule to retire on July 23, 2015.