Ahmedabad, Oct 26 (PTI) Gujarat minister of state for home Harsh Sanghvi on Tuesday held a meeting with senior officials after police personnel used social media and their kin resorted to sit-ins and rallies to demand a pay hike.
Brajesh Kumar Jha, Inspector General of Police (Administration) said the minister met senior officials during the day, adding that information on grade pay for police have been sought from other states.
He, however, said, as per primary information available to him, no state pays Rs 4,500 as grade pay to their police personnel.
“In the meeting, it was also discussed as to what action should be taken against police personnel who are taking to social media forums instead of using appropriate committees to put forth their demands,” he said.
Personnel from constable to assistant sub inspector ranks are demanding a hike in their grade pay, with their kin taking out rallies and holding sit-ins in different cities, including Gandhinagar and Surat, on Tuesday.
Personnel are demanding a hike in their grade pay to Rs 2,800 (for constables), Rs 3,600 (for head constables), and Rs 4,400 (for assistant sub inspectors), and have taken to social media platforms to press for their demands.
They are also demanding fixed 8-hour shifts, pay leaves as per the Seventh Pay Commission, and permission to form a union.
A constable was, on Monday, detained from the Secretariat in Gandhinagar for holding a sit-in protest, while a woman constable threatened a hunger strike but the matter was resolved, a Navrangpura police station official said.
Parties like the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party are backing the protesting police personnel and have asked the BJP government in the state to be sympathetic to their demands.
Congress leader Paresh Dhanani wrote to Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel and said police should be given all facilities and grade pay in line with what other government employees were getting.