Police officers forced to work all week

IGP’s order of weekly off being flouted.

LAHORE:

Despite orders from the inspector general of police (IGP) that police personnel get regular weekly holidays, some police personnel in the Model Town Division have been ordered to report for their duties throughout the week.

Police personnel, mainly station house officers (SHO), clerks and police post in-charges have not been given weekly offs for a few months.

IGP Javed Iqbal had issued a notice for weekly off to be observed as soon as he took charge of his office on January 13.

A police officer at one of the police stations in the division told The Express Tribune that SHO and police post in-charges were given their weekly off in the beginning, but as some time passed, they were called to work every other week. He said now the order has been completely forgotten and the superintendent of police (SP) calls them to work with a new reason every week.

He said there was no way the SP’s orders could be challenged, so no one protested against them. He said that the SHO came to work around 9 am and left late in the night. In such a hectic routine, he said, it was not appropriate to cancel the weekly off.

A security in-charge also complained about the same problem.

Police personnel said that the subordinates did not flout the SP’s orders, so the SP should also respect their rights.

He urged that the IGP should take notice of the violation.

An SP, seeking anonymity, said that the orders were not feasible for Lahore police due to the security situation. Giving weekly off days would mean that 10 per cent of the police force would be absent each day, he added.

He suggested that the IGP should increase the strength of the force if he wanted enforce the order. He said that SHOs and police post in-charges were important officials and were required to work every day.

He said that a few police stations were implementing the weekly off order.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 4^th, 2011.