KOCHI: Dealing a huge blow to thousands of police personnel deployed at Sabarimala to manage the festival rush, the home department has decided to do away with the provision to provide them free food citing severe fund crunch.
In its order to the state police chief, the department directed him to constitute a committee and raise adequate funds to run the mess that provides food to the personnel, saying the government cannot allocate them mess subsidy. The order also called for a deduction of `100 per day from the personnel’s daily allowance as mess charges.
The order, which would affect nearly 15,000 police personnel deployed at Sabarimala for the Mandalam-Makaravilakku festival season, has drawn flak from various quarters. A top police official said the government order cited severe fund crunch as the reason.
“Since the government has said it cannot allocate mess subsidy and asked us to run the facility, we have to follow it. However, we will analyse the matter,” said the official.The government had started allocating funds for managing the food expenses of officers at Sabarimala duty in 2006. This was done in a phased manner.
Employees’ bodies want govt to withdraw order
Later, it started earmarking funds for 80 per cent of expenses. The mess facility was launched in 2011 by then Chief Minister Oommen Chandy at Pampa, Nilakkal and Sannidhanam. The supply of free food was hit in 2020 and 2021 owing to the pandemic. However, the government allocated `1.44 crore as mess fund in the latter part of last year.
Meanwhile, the order, issued by the additional chief secretary on October 25, also directed the police top brass to form a mess committee under the DIG, Armed Police Batallion, comprising officials from departments that are willing to use the police mess facility.
The order also instructed opening a savings or treasury account for the committee, setting up an electronic transaction system for payments, maintaining revenue and expenditure records for further examination and collecting mess charges from the other departments in advance.
The state police chief has been asked to initiate further steps to ensure the smooth running of the police mess during the festival season and issue comprehensive guidelines in this regard.Employees’ organisations in the police department have decided to approach the government urging it to withdraw the decision.
“The duty of police officers at Sabarimala is not to maintain law and order but to serve the pilgrims. The personnel are working tirelessly without giving second thought to duty time or other issues. The state government did not disburse DA arrears and other benefits to police personnel citing financial crisis. Now, it is revoking the free mess facility too,” said an officer who did not wish to be named.
Kerala Police Association general secretary K P Praveen expressed hope the government will reconsider the decision to levy mess charges from the personnel.“The issue had arose last year too. However, considering our request, the government allocated Rs 1.44 crore as mess funds,” he said.