Crimes are on the rise in Odisha, but  Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, who is in charge of Home Department, is sitting silent on the issue. In broad daylight, many heinous crimes are committed, but police have completely failed in controlling them, alleged PCC president Niranjan Patnaik on Tuesday.

In a Press release, he said that though number of crimes is rising every day, all are either not reported or registered by police. In 2013, the number of registered crimes in the State was 71,718, where as this has gone up to 79,998 by September, 2018.  A year before, the number was 77,596.

This shows the shattered law and order situation of the State, Patnaik said.

The PCC chief said in All India Crime Bureau Records, in 2013, Odisha remained in 13th place in overall crime record. It was in 14the slot in murder, 9th in rape, 6th in robbery, 13th in theft, 14th in kidnapping and 13th in riot. During 2013, the State was in 15th position in overall crime scenario where as 6th both in rape and in robbery, 4th in dacoity and 11th both in kidnapping and riot. In 2001 in Odisha, 790 cases of rape and 987 cases of murder were registered, where as in 2006, this rose to 985 and 1,159 respectively.  In the year 2011, 1,112 cases of rape and 1,477 cases of murder were registered. Likewise the number of theft cases during 2011 increased by 14.6 per cent and touched 8,724, said Patnaik. During 2015, the number of rape cases rose to 2,251, which was a matter of concern. This was 273 more than the previous year. Referring to the manpower crunch in the Police Department, Patnaik said the Police Department of the State is being run through contractual employees. 7,883 contractual employees are working in the Police Department in various posts.