During the recently-concluded three-tier Panchayat elections, among the total 1.57 lakh security personnel, 81,000 were Civic Volunteers, who maintained the law and order situation.
While many have looked at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee announcing a hike in the monthly stipend of Civic Volunteers from Rs 5,500 a month to Rs 8,000 -- a rise of over 45 per cent -- as a reward from the TMC government, leaders of the Opposition, during Panchayat Polls, said that the volunteers are still deprived of the amount that had been assured by the CM initially.
During the recently-concluded three-tier Panchayat elections, among the total 1.57 lakh security personnel, 81,000 were Civic Volunteers, who maintained the law and order situation.
At an event to felicitate achievers in different fields, Mamata said, "In May 2011, our government was sworn into power and again in 2016 in the same month we were re-elected in 2016. We arranged a function in the last week of this month to felicitate people from different walks of life. On this auspicious day, I would like to make some announcements for the Civic Volunteers. From their present monthly stipend of Rs 5,500, it will be raised to Rs 8,000 with effect from October this year," Mamata said. She also said that the Civic Volunteers would be further trained so that they could be upgraded to the level of constables.
Sources at Nabanna, the state secretariat, said that annually, an amount of Rs 812 crore is spent from the State's coffers to pay about 1.23 lakh Civic Volunteers across the state and after October the figure would shoot up to Rs 1,180 crore.
Political leaders were quick to react to the CM's decision. "We don't have any problem in paying the Civic Volunteers a reasonable stipend which should be much better than Rs 8,000 but what is interesting is the timing of the announcement. It sounds like rewarding them for their assistance to help TMC win the Panchayat elections," said BJP national secretary and former party state president Rahul Sinha.
CPIM MLA, Sujan Chakraborty said it was an eyewash for the Civic Volunteers who had been pressurised to help the ruling dispensation win the civic polls. "The actual stipend for these civic volunteers was Rs 11,000 a month. Even after this so-called rise from Rs 5,500 to Rs 8,000, there is still a shortfall from the promised amount," he said.
Congress MLA and leader of Opposition Abdul Mannan described it as a 'drama of Mamata'. "These Civic Volunteers have been used for her political benefit during the Panchayat election. Now she makes the big announcement as if she is some kind of benevolent Goddess. They have been and still are deprived of benefits such as provident fund and medical benefits. Mamata puts up a dramatic speech to make it look like it is a huge rise for them," Mannan said.
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