M A I N   N E W S

6,000 SPOs without salary for months
Sarbjit Dhaliwal
Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 4
Special Police Officers (SPOs), who played an important role in the fight against terrorism in Punjab, are a dejected lot these days for various reasons. In fact, many of them are facing an uncertain future as they have become over-age and ineligible to get any government job.

At the moment the biggest problem they face is regarding salaries. They have not got their salaries for the past three months. “Our number in the state is over 6,000, but we are without salaries which is a meagre sum that the state government has failed to pay us,” said an SPO.

The salaries of all categories of employees have been revised several fold in the past years, except that of the SPOs who are given Rs 2,790 per month each, though they remain on duty for 24 hours like cops. In fact, most of them are being used as “personal servants” by officers. “All sorts of work is taken from us by officers in the field. We are supposed to take care of the kids of officers as well as of their kennels” said one of the SPOs.

But whenever a request is made to enhance the salaries, all seniors turn a deaf year to such a plea. It is a known fact that during the fight against terrorism, a significant number of SPOs were killed. “Every body knows the fact that the fight against terrorism was the most difficult task and we stood by the police in their hour of difficulty,” say SPOs.

Informed sources said that as many as 3,400 SPOs were selected for appointment in the Punjab Police as constables. But they have not been absorbed in the main force yet on the plea that the state government has not lifted the ban on the new recruitment.

Sources said that earlier an SPO was given Rs 40 only as a daily wage but later it was increased to Rs 50 and the SAD-BJP government raised it to Rs 90 per day. Since then no revision has been made. “We have been expecting that the Capt Amarinder Singh government would give use a better deal. But it has not happened yet,” say SPOs.

“Many of us have been performing duties along with the Punjab police for the past 15 years. At this stage we are in no position to go elsewhere except to serve the police force,” they add.

When contacted for official version, a top officer of the Punjab police said that there were 7,500 SPOs with the state police. Out of them 4,500 were found fit to be recruited in the police as constables by the Recruitment Board set up in 2001. Of them 1,100 had been recruited as constables and the remaining 3400 would be absorbed in the force as and when vacancies occurred. However, for the remaining 3,000 SPOs, who were not found fit to be recruited as constables, there was a proposal to recruit them as Class IV employees in the force.