Need for incentives: IGP suggests upgradation of police officials

Says ranks of all provincial govt employees upgraded except those in police dept

PESHAWAR: IGP Nasir Khan Durrani has written a letter to the K-P government recommending ranks of constable, head constables (HC) and assistant sub-inspector (ASI) in police be upgraded. The letter written on June 15 stated that these personnel were considered the back bone of the force and had no fixed hours of duty which led them to work for prolonged hours.

The letter, a copy of which is available with The Express Tribune, recommended a constable be upgraded from BPS-5 to 7, a HC from BPS-7 to 9 and an ASI from BPS-9 to BPS-11.

These upgradations have been carried out in a number of departments by the PTI government including health, excise and taxation and education.



“At present the recruitment process of constables is carried out through accredited testing service,” the document stated. “These constables are highly qualified – most have Master’s degrees and when compared to officers from other department, their duties are not fixed causing them to be available around the clock.” It further stated that due to this, the risk factor in performance of police duty was far greater than that in any other entity.

“All other provincial government employees from BPS-1 to BPS-5 have been given two pay scale upgradations while one pay scale upgradation has been granted to all employees from BPS-5 to BPS-15 in 2015,” the letter quoted Durrani as saying.

“Furthermore the posts of junior and senior clerks have been upgraded twice – first from BPS-5 and BPS-7 to BPS-7 and BPS-9 in 2007 and then from BPS-7 and BPS-9 to BPS-11 and BPS-14 respectively in 2014,” the letter read.



The document added, “In the wake of limited promotional prospects, the upgradation of junior ranks in police department on the pattern of upgradation given to lower ranks in other departments offers a kind of an incentive that will make officials at junior ranks work more diligently to meet aspirations of the public and the government.

Talking to The Express Tribune, a police official, requesting anonymity, said constables, head constables and ASIs deserved the much awaited upgradation. “They bear the brunt of prolonged and non-fixed duty hours in the scorching sun, and work in far-flung areas of the province without electricity and basic necessities,” he added.

It is worth mentioning that there are 52,000 constables, 8,000 head constables and around 2,500 ASIs in the province.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 1^st, 2016.