KASARGOD: The first female Home Guard in Kerala has been appointed in Kasaragod. K Radha, 57, who retired as a sub-inspector of Kerala police, was given the appointment order on Wednesday, said district fire officer B Raj.
Radha -- a native of Thaikadapuram, a coastal village in Nileshwar -- and director-general of Kerala Fire and Rescue Services R Sreelekha played a key role in the state government reserving up to 30% posts for women in the Home Guards Organisation.
Kerala has 3,000 posts for Home Guards, and 100 in Kasaragod. The reservation will kick in for future vacancies, said the order.
In June, when the Fire and Rescue Services Department called for applications to fill 11 vacancies in Kasaragod Home Guards, Radha and another retired female sub-inspector applied for posts, said Raj.
Since only men were appointed as Home Guards, the notification did not mention male gender as eligibility, he said.
“So, I called Radha and told her that the posts were only for men,” he said.
But Radha was not disheartened. She went to Thiruvananthapuram and met Sreelekha and told her that the Home Guard posts should be open to retired women officers too. .
Sreelekha seems convinced and on July 1 wrote a letter to the government proposing up to 30% posts for women in the Home Guards Organisation.
“Two months ago, during a meeting of the disaster management committee, the director-general proposed the same,” said district police chief Shilpa Dyavaiah.