Waking up to the noisy protests by members of the families of the personnel of AP Special Police (APSP), the police top brass has now come out with a slew of measures for the personnel, including recruiting 4,000 personnel to ease the situation, granting three days’ leave in a month and posting them within 200 km from the headquarters to ensure that they will not be far away from their families.
On the other hand, the state police said on Monday said that a group of people had instigated the protests staged by the families APSP personnel but refused to disclose the identity of the group. Earlier in the day, members of the families of about 10 APSP personnel held discussions with director-general of police V Dinesh Reddy during which the state police chief agreed to all their demands.
Earlier, a few family members and wives of APSP Constables met Dinesh Reddy and brought some issues to his notice. They preferred the old system of posting constables within 200 km of the headquarters and granting leave. Soon after the victims submitted representations, the DGP convened a meeting with the all higher police officials and took a decision to revise the existing system. The DGP said welfare was his top priority and recalled that during the First Police Commemoration Parade after taking over as DGP he approached the chief minister for welfare measures and, in an unprecedented manner, the chief minister showered the bounty including grant of Rs1 crore to the welfare fund every year, reimbursement of bi-annual medical check-up expenses to the entire force, providing a doctor for every unit hospital and a 50-bedded superspeciality hospital with Rs 50 crore to begin with at Ist Battalion, APSP, Yousufguda, etc.
The DGP said that for the first time the chief minister personally signed the orders sanctioning the boons having the welfare of police personnel at his heart. Earlier, principal secretary to chief minister used to send a note to the finance department. In another welfare measure, for the first time in 56 years since the state was formed, Central Police Canteens, akin to the canteens of the Army and central paramilitary forces, have been established though such canteens for policemen are existing in 11 other states.
The DGP also gaven directions to APSP officers like holding ’Family Sabhas’ once in every month and various other reforms and instructions. Heo ordered a probe into various policy decisions that had been taken a few months back in the APSP and directed the ADGP, APSP to conduct an enquiry and submit a comprehensive report. At the same time, Dinesh Reddy minced no words condeming the behaviour of the families of the personnel of a disciplined force like APSP to take law into their hands and resort to dharnas and rasta rokos thereby lowering their image in the eyes of the public. As a special gesture, he directed all the district police officers not to take criminal action against those family members who violated the law. Warning that it should be the first and last protest, he said that if such violations were repeated, the law would take its own course. To this, the family members assured the DGP in one voice that they would never resort to such kind of things in future and requested him to pardon even their husbands.
Later, the DGP told the Association of APSP Officers to strictly warn personnel of the 8th battalion and others not to instigate such violence in future, failing which they would not only be liable for disciplinary action but also criminal action for having abetted their family members to take law into their hands.