CHENNAI: Last year's Deepavali was merrier for Tamil Nadu's police personnel. They had just received a gift from the State government in the form of a Government Order, which allowed the personnel between the ranks of Grade-II constables and Head Constables to take a weekly off.
The government's decision came after DGP C Sylendra Babu, in a circular to his subordinates, had said that senior officers should ensure that police personnel work only eight hours a day, and get a weekly off. He opined the move would ensure that the personnel stay healthy.
Four months on, however, weekly offs and limited working hours continue to be a distant dream for many inside the khaki. According to the department officials in Chennai, many factors contribute to this issue. They say that even though the higher-ups try to ensure proper duty hours and weekly off, with the nature of the job itself demanding, it is hard to implement.
Talking about his daily shift, a writer of the Law & Order division said that on some days he works even after his eight-hour shift when the task/case he is assigned to goes beyond the work hours. "A policeman's job is not like a banker's. We cannot put off our task for the next day, we have to complete it before we go home. And on days when it goes beyond our duty time, we complete it even if it takes the entire night," he said.
A Sub Inspector (SI) of the crime division said, "The eight-hour duty and the weekly off are really good ideas, but extremely difficult to implement. With the lack of enough personnel, the working hours and weekly offs of the other personnel get delayed."
He said a job that requires more than 5 constables is now being handled by just two, and this leads to needing more time to solve cases and conduct follow-ups. An officer posted in Coimbatore echoed the same view and said, "If the government is to implement the eight-hours work schedule, first they should make sure that there is enough strength in all the stations."
He added that ideally, the strength must be around 30 for light category stations, and it around 60 for medium category stations. Heavy stations, meanwhile, need at least 120 personnel including the officers. "However, the ground situation is such that most police personnel are forced to work at least 10 to 12 hours. When we are sent for bandobast duties, the cases we are working on get delayed. We are then forced to work the cases after our duty time. That is a major issue," the officer said.
'Sub-Inspectors not included'
Another inspector of the crime division said the inspectors should also be made eligible for eight-hour duty and to the weekly off system. She said, "Right after we reach home completing a case late in the night, we are asked to report to duty at 6:45 am. There’s hardly any time to sleep. This lack of sleep results in lesser concentration and irritability."
Another issue is of the frequent transfers that the personnel get. An officer of the DSP rank in Coimbatore city police, who was recently transferred from a neighbouring district, said the sudden transfers not only affect their work lives but also their family lives.
"Every personnel would get transferred once in three years. But the jurisdiction limit is the issue. For someone under the rank of sub-inspector, he need not worry about the transfer as they are allowed to work in their respective native places or within the nearby station limits. When it comes to the ranks of SI and above, they get transferred frequently. SIs are shuffled between sub-divisions (except native sub-division) in the same district and the higher ranked officers get transferred out of districts except for their native district. There is no need to explain how these transfers affect their routine lives," said the officer.
(With additional inputs from Coimbatore)