Khattar announces slew of measures for police department

Chandigarh, Aug 17 (PTI) Haryana Chief Minister ManoharLal Khattar today announced a slew of incentives for thewelfare of the police personnel, including increasing theex-gratia amount to those who die or are seriously injured inthe line of duty. Addressing the gathering on the occasion of the state’sfirst ‘Mahila Police Diwas’ programme organised at Panchkula,he announced an increase in the ex-gratia amount given tothose who lay down their lives in the line of duty from Rs 10lakh to Rs 30 lakh and for those seriously injured from Rs 5lakh to Rs 15 lakh. He also made public the decision to sanction Rs 4 croreevery year to set up police public schools in the 10 remainingdistricts, centralised seniority-for-promotion for all ranks,common cadre for male and female police personnel, rationmoney of Rs 600 per month for Class IV employees of thedistrict and other units, government hospitals at the policetraining institutes at Bhondsi, Madhuban and Sunaria and twonew regional forensic laboratories at Hisar and Panchkula. He said Mahila Police Diwas will be celebrated every yearon the eve of Raksha Bandhan to deliberate upon women’ssecurity and other related issues. Earlier, for the first time in 12 years, a Level-A meetingof the Police Welfare Society was held under the chairmanshipof the Chief Minister where various decisions were taken forthe welfare of the police personnel. Khattar also announced 3,060 new houses to be built nextyear for police personnel. He said he had given his nod for increasing the size ofthe houses from 450 to 600 square feet, adding that matchinggrants would be sanctioned for the purpose from the PoliceWelfare Fund and the Road Safety Fund. He said one representative of the Police Department wouldbe included in the committee formed to monitor theimplementation of the 7th Pay Commission recommendations forstate government employees. The Chief Minister also assured that the demandsconcerning mobile allowance, uniform allowance and riskallowance would be considered "sympathetically". As the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Bill has been clearedby Parliament, the issue of VAT exemption at police canteenswould also be taken up accordingly, he added. Earlier, he honoured four female police personnel withmedals for their "outstanding performance" in tackling crimesagainst women in the last one year. ‘Mukhyamantri MahilaSarvottam Seva Padak’ was bestowed upon Inspector Garima. Theother three were Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) Rekha Rani andhead constables Sunita Devi and Neenu Khan. (MORE) PTI CHS RCZMNRC