Police officers seek wage hike, weekly off, recruitment panel

JAIPUR: Ahead of the state budget to be presented in the assembly on February 24, police personnel are hopeful that their demands for increase in pay scales, hike in hard duty allowance, and weekly leave will be met.

Working and retired police officers expect that the government will announce in the budget formation of a Police Recruitment Commission that will address the shortage of staff and handle transfer, posting, and promotion of policemen.

“There is a shortage of staff at each police station in Rajasthan. To overcome this problem, the government of Rajasthan should announce formation of a Police Recruitment Commission in the budget, which will handle transfers, postings and promotions of policemen and overcome the shortage of manpower,” said Rajendra Singh, a retired police officer who works for the rights of policemen.

He said that the biggest expectation by the policemen posted in the field is weekly off. “While the policemen working at the headquarters or in superintendent or range offices get leave on Saturday and Sunday, along with festivals, those who are posted in the field do not get any weekly holiday. Policemen posted in the field have to work for more than 16 hours a day. The government should also increase the pay scale from ₹2800 to ₹3600 for constables,” Singh said.

Singh has also written a letter on the demands to the state government.

He said computers and printers worth lakhs of rupees have been installed in police stations. The cartridge of a printer costs around ₹8000, for which no additional budget is given to the police by the government.

“Because of lack of budget for cartridge, policemen are not able to use printers. The government should give a separate budget for cartridge. Laptops for investigating officers should also be announced in the budget.”

Another retired police officer, Yogendra Joshi, said the Rajasthan government gets a budget of crores of rupees from the Centre every year for modernising police.

“The budget is not spent completely; hence a large part of the budget gets lapsed. In such a situation, the Rajasthan government should announce in the budget for buying land from that fund, and flats can be constructed on the land so that every policeman can get housing. This will also free the police department from the maintenance of police quarters,” Joshi said.