Lucknow: It won’t be a happy Diwali for 25,000 Home Guards in Uttar Pradesh as the state government have decided to remove them from their postings at police stations and traffic signals citing budget constraints.
More than 99,000 Home Guards also stand to lose regular employment, as the state government has cut the number of days they are required to report for duty from 25 to 15 days.
The Supreme Court had earlier moved to pay daily allowances of UP Home Guards at par with the UP Police constable. However, this silver lining wouldn’t come to last. The UP Home Guards are mostly deployed for the traffic management system in the state, which is now likely to face issues.
“There is a certain budget for Home Guards and when their daily allowance is increased it will definitely have an effect on their duty days. It might have some effect as Diwali season is around the corner, however, I am sure the state government has taken a decision after thinking over the financial constraints. If Home Guards are given allowances at par with constables then they should also be trained like them,” former DGP of UP, AK Jain told News18.
As per the orders dated October 11, the decision to end the duty of 25,000 Home Guards was taken in a meeting headed by the Chief Secretary on August 28. The Home Department had deployed the 25,000 Home Guards around a year back to fill up the vacancies in the police department.
The Home Guards would earlier get a daily allowance of around 500 rupees, which was raised to 672 rupees following the Supreme Court’s orders. This is said to have added to UP Police’s budgetary constraints. Home Guards do not have any fixed monthly salary and are paid on the basis of number of days of duty. Till now Home Guards were expected on duty for 25. The government has now decreased to 15 days.
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