Poornima Swaminathan
Wanted: A police inspector.
Requirements: Willingness to work erratic hours, cope with stressful environment, accept abrupt cancellation of leave, and slog in an under-staffed
department.
Job risk: Mostly fatal.
Salary: Far below than their counterparts in other departments.
Although the police department does not advertise a vacancy in such a manner, this is what most officers, who join the force, get.
Policemen usually have hectic working hours and more often than not, they are denied their weekly offs, especially during festivals.
Now, the government has given our demoralised police officers one more reason to get frustrated. Under the Sixth Pay Commission, there is a huge disparity between a police inspector and an officer of the same rank in other departments such as revenue and forest.
According to the new pay structure, the salary of a police inspector has risen to Rs9,300 from Rs7,450. On the other hand, for the officers of an equivalent rank in departments such as revenue and forest, the remuneration was increased from Rs7,450 to Rs15,600.
The inspector-level officers, who are considered the backbone of the department, comprise nearly 45% of the police force.
A senior police officer said the department was disgruntled by the attitude of the government. “With an increased threat perception in the past couple of years, the police force is always on its toes.
Also, they are overworked during festivals because their leave is cancelled so that they could maintain law and order. The least the government could do it pay us on a par with our counterparts.”
A senior police officer said that the morale of the force is also low because of their erratic working hours. “Many posts are vacant. Therefore, there is additional load on existing officers,” the officer added.
“The job is really stressful, but we are not even entitled to public holidays which our counterparts in other departments enjoy. Sometimes, we don’t even get weekly offs for a couple of months if the pressure increases,” said another police officer.
According to senior police officers, the policemen cannot voice their grouse because of the protocol. “They are unable to put forward their grievances to the authorities concerned because they do not have a union or association. We hope the government at least acknowledges the hard work we put in and get our salaries on a par with others, if not more,” the officer said.
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