Pay delayed,cops struggle to meet ends

Head constable Gangadhar Jadhav says he has mastered the art of juggling with his wifes gold jewellery every month.

Head constable Gangadhar Jadhav says he has mastered the art of juggling with his wifes gold jewellery every month. He pawns them with a local jeweller in the first week of every month and then by the third week,he ensures they are back in his wifes possession. For the past six months,this foot soldier of the Mumbai Police has been under stress,waiting till the third week of the month for his salary to be credited to his bank account. While Jadhav was still waiting on Friday afternoon,senior officials said on Sunday the salaries were finally disbursed the same day,that is June 15.

The Commissioner (Commissioner of Police) had issued an apology letter. The letter speaks of some technical snag. But this letter does not help me pay my monthly instalments to the bank, says Jadhav,who has been in service for over two decades now. I have a home loan and life insurance policy to address every month. These payments have to be made by the third day of every month. It is a struggle, Jadhav says.

Like Jadhav,almost 50 per cent of the constabulary faces this trouble of delayed salary disbursement. I was just 19 when I joined the police force. I am 42 today. Problems like these occurred in the past,too,but did not persist for this long. It gets difficult, said another constable attached to the Local Arms Division of the Mumbai Police. This attitude also reflects how important our issue is for the department, the constable said. He adds,It is our second generation in police service and this will be the last. I dont want my kids to have such an uncertain future.

In July last year,Mumbai Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik had sent out instructions directing the Pay and Accounts Department to ensure that salaries are paid on time. A regular review to examine any difficulties in disbursal of salaries was to be conducted on the 24th of each month. However,the problem has only intensified in the past six months.

Top police officers blame the delay to an overload on the special software that is meant to disburse salaries every month. At least twice this year,an apology note has been issued by Patnaiks office.

In June alone,the first batch of salaries were disbursed on June 11,while a few received it on June 13 and others on June 15.

While Patnaik remained unavailable for comment despite repeated attempts to contact him,a senior police officer said the snag would be fixed soon. Data is fed into the system,which is dated and needs revival. The office is working on the issue and it will be resolved soon, said a senior police officer.

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Mumbai Police spokesperson Nisar Tamboli said all salaries were finally disbursed on Friday.

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Pay delayed,cops struggle to meet ends

Head constable Gangadhar Jadhav says he has mastered the art of juggling with his wifes gold jewellery every month.

Head constable Gangadhar Jadhav says he has mastered the art of juggling with his wifes gold jewellery every month.