Morale booster? Buddha rains sops for cops

At a time when state police is facing onslaught from Maoists,Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee tried to lift their morale by announcing various sops to them that included more houses,more jobs,more hospitals and more financial incentives.

At a time when state police is facing onslaught from Maoists,Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee tried to lift their morale by announcing various sops to them that included more houses,more jobs,more hospitals and more financial incentives.

We are going to build 1,500 new flats after taking loan from HUDCO, said Home Secretary Ardhendu Sen after a meeting of the Joint Consultative Committee held at the Writers Buildings on Wednesday.

The meeting was chaired by the chief minister in his capacity as the chairman of the committee that comprises senior police officers of the state and representatives of the IPS Association and other police associations.

Sen said the government was considering the proposal of the police associations in which they had sought increase in the number of police stations in the Maoist-affected Junglemahal area.

The government is also considering the proposal to extend the risk allowance given to police personnel deployed in the 21 police stations of Left Wing Extremism (LWE)-affected districts of Bankura,Purulia and West Midnapore. The police associations had demanded that security personnel posted in the fringe areas of the Naxalite affected districts,members of Bomb Disposal Squad and commando forces of the state police should be also given the risk allowance.

Sen also said the government will continue with the recruitment process. Next year,we will recruit 3,500 more policemen, he added.

The home secretary said the hospitals in the LWE area will be upgraded so that police personnel can avail better medical facilities.

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The Joint Consultative Committee meeting,which should be an annual affair,was held after a gap of five years.

Welcoming the decisions taken by the chief minister,secretary of the West Bengal Police Association,

Bijitaswa Raut,said,We are happy that the chief minister has promised that he would get these things done as early as possible.

Pay hike for 16,000 govt employees
Altogether 16,000 employees of the state government would be benefited in pay revision announced on Wednesday for non-teaching employees,other than officers,of state-aided universities,West Bengal Council of Higher Secondary Education and West Bengal Board of Secondary Education.

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Arrears would be paid for the period from April 2008 to March 2009 in three annual instalments beginning from 2009-10,Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta said in a press note. The government acted on the recommendations of a panel constituted in November 2008 for examining the existing pay structure,allowances and other conditions of service of these employees. PTI

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