LUCKNOW, Oct 24:
The Uttar Pradesh government on Thursday decided to continue with the services of all home guards personnel who were removed from duty.
“In view of the coming festival season, the present arrangement of deployment of home guards will continue as before,” a government order issued by Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Avinesh Awasthi said.
Their payment will be made from the budget of the Home Department and till the fund permits, the order said.
The order follows an assurance given by state Home Guard Minister Chetan Chauhan that no home guard would be removed.
The state government had on October 15 announced that it was doing away with 25,000 home guards as it could not afford the new allowances the Supreme Court had asked it to pay, only to reverse it hours later, saying no one would be removed.
After the news reports appeared in the media, the government had clarified that it was trying to find out solution to the problem so that the Diwali festival was observed in every household.
State police chief O P Singh had stated that the move to not deploy home guards was taken was a temporary one and taken due to the extra financial burden on the police department following the apex court order.
“After the Supreme Court order, the police department would have had to bear the extra burden of Rs 10-12 crore per month. This decision of not giving postings is a temporary one, and if and when required they will be called for duty,” the DGP had said.
The daily allowance for the home guards after the Supreme Court order rose to Rs 672, up from the Rs 500 in July. The government said this would exert additional burden on the exchequer.
It, therefore, decided not to deploy home guards meant for security at police stations and traffic signals.
The home guards are not permanent employees and are recruited on a casual basis. They do not have any fixed monthly salary and are paid on the basis of the number of days of duty performed by them. Till now they were expected to work for 25 days, but the Government decreased it to 15 days, drawing flak from the Opposition. (PTI)
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