Senior police officers inspect the stampede site at Gandhi Maidan on Friday night. Picture by Sachin

The government is set to initiate steps to fill up two posts of city superintendents of police (SPs) — lying vacant for long — in what is possibly in reaction to Friday’s Gandhi Maidan stampede.

The government had created two additional posts of city SP — city SP East and city SP West — in February 2009 to tone up the law and order machinery in the capital. Initially, there used to be a city SP (central), city SP (east) and city SP (west) and it yielded tangible results.

Direct recruit IPS officers were meant to hold the posts of the three city SPs and those of SP (rural) and SP (traffic).

However, with the passage of time, the posts of city SP east and city SP west fell vacant and were not filled up.

As a result, only city SP (central) was assigned to contain crime and maintain law and order in town.

The senior superintendent of police (SSP) was made overall in-charge of the law and order situation in Patna district, which normally registers over 20,000 cognisable offences annually.

Sridhar Mandal, a retired IPS officer who has served as SP (traffic) and deputy SP (town), blamed the state government for the Gandhi Maidan tragedy. “Had the government provided two additional SPs to the city, Friday’s stampede, which claimed at least 33 lives, could have been averted,” he told The Telegraph on Sunday. To make matters worse, Mandal pointed out, the post of deputy SP (town) — under whose jurisdiction the sprawling Maidan falls — too, is lying vacant. “Had all these posts been filled up earlier, officers would have been able to monitor deployment of forces for Ravan Vadh in a better way,” he said.

Mandal said the lackadaisical approach showed that policing in Patna was not a priority for the government. “Otherwise, officers would have been posted on a regular basis,” he said.

A senior IPS officer speaking on condition of anonymity said in the past eight months, he had thrice shot off letters to the police headquarters, requesting it to fill up the vacant posts of city SPs in Patna. However, the government turned a deaf ear to the recommendations, he said.

Director-general of police P.K. Thakur said the exercise to fill up two vacant posts of city SPs in Patna would start soon after the police officers returned from their mid-career training. “The city SPs for Bhagalpur and Darbhanga would also be appointed depending on availability of officers,” he said.

Thakur, who assumed charge as state police chief about three months ago, admitted the state still faces shortfall of IPS officers. “But the situation is not as alarming as it used to be when the state was provided only one or two IPS officers,” he said.

As per government notification, city SP (central) is supposed to look after areas falling under the jurisdiction of deputy SP (town) and deputy SP (law and order).

Similarly, city SP (West) is assigned to look after the areas falling under the jurisdiction of deputy SP (secretariat) and sub-divisional police officers of Danapur and Phulwarisharif.

An IG-rank officer, who had earlier served in Patna, said the idea behind creating additional posts of city SP was to ensure better policing, besides the safety and security of residents.