Hyderabad, October 22: The government will allocate Rs 5 crore more for providing residential quarters to policemen, Chief Minister K Rosaiah has announced.
Rosaiah’s announcement came during the Police Commemoration Parade held at the Martyr’s Memorial, Shiva Kumar Lal Stadium, at Goshamahal here today. “The State Government allocated Rs 20 crore in the 2009-2020 budget and Rs 7.5 crore has already been sanctioned. An additional Rs 5 crore will be allocated in the next budget,’’ he said. Rosaiah gave this assurance after Director- General of Police R R Girish Kumar highlighted the dilapidated state of the quarters in which the policemen across the State are forced to live in. “To whichever district I travelled, the main complaint was the sorry state of police quarters. The government should allocate Rs 10 crore as a special case to address this problem ,’’ the DGP said.
Rosaiah said that the government would extend all possible help to the department.
“The government had issued a GO on September 30 increasing the insurance amount to constables, head constables, Armed Reserve sub-inspectors and assistant sub-inspectors.
Earlier, these categories of officers used to get an insurance amount of Rs 1 lakh now it is enhanced to Rs 5 lakh,’’ he said.
Similarly, the insurance cover for SI, RSI and inspector-rank officials had been increased from Rs 2 lakh to Rs 10 lakh and for officials of the rank of deputy superintendent of police it has been raised to Rs 15 lakh from Rs 5 lakh. “For those working in Central police organisations, the insurance amount was hiked to Rs 5 lakh from Rs 1 lakh irrespective of their ranks,’’ he added.
Rosaiah applauded the services of policemen in protecting the lives of the people and particularly during the recent floods. “Even as their own houses and families were affected in the floods, the policemen remained steadfast in their duties and were in the forefront of rescue operations,’’ he said.
Home Minister P Sabitha Indra Reddy said the welfare of policemen and their families would be given priority so that they can perform their duties with confidence.
“Having came to know about the importance of the policemen in safeguarding the society, former chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy had initiated the process of recruiting 37,000 constables,’’ she said.
DGP R R Girish Kumar said the State police had been tackling Naxalism, terrorism, factionism and white collar offences effectively and many of them were laying down their lives while discharging their duties.
He made a special mention of Rajasekhara Reddy’s chief security officer ASC Wesley, who was killed in the helicopter crash, in Kurnool on September 2.
Rich tributes were paid to the 833 policemen across the nation, including the Maharastra policemen who laid down their lives countering the 26/11 terror attack.
The dignitaries placed a wreath at the Martyr’s Memorial as a mark of respect to those who were killed while discharging their duties.
–Agencies