152 women among 1,888 cops promoted; some after 20 yrs

Parameshwara: govt will set up panel on police pay revision

Nearly 2,000 police personnel were promoted at a ranking ceremony hosted by the Bengaluru city police at Palace Grounds on Monday. Home Minister G Parameshwara awarded head constable badges to police constables who were promoted and single stars on head constables who were promoted as assistant sub-inspectors. In all, 1,888 police personnel from the city police constabulary were promoted, 152 of them women. A majority of them were from the City Armed Reserve and the others from law and order and traffic.

The home minister congratulated the constables, some of who were promoted after 20 years of service. He also said up to 1,000 police personnel will be promoted next month. “The rank of a constable is equivalent to that of a second division assistant in the revenue department. But after 15-20 years of service, an SDA would get promoted as  deputy tahsildar, whereas a constable remains a constable. I took this up with the chief minister who readily understood the issue and asked me to resolve it,” Parameshwara said.

The minister also proposed several schemes for the welfare of policemen including revision of salaries on a par with the pay commission by setting up a committee. The minister also promised a Police Bhavan and a Police University in Bengaluru. “We are working on making loans easily accessible to policemen as nobody offers them loans. We will talk to nationalised banks for home and vehicle loans for policemen and education loans for their children,” said Parameshwara. The home minister also felicitated DG&IGP Om Prakash who will retire on Tuesday.

“I feel proud that I will retire as an officer and not as a constable,” said D N Hanumantharayappa, who was promoted as ASI, attached to the City Armed Reserve. Hanumantharayappa had served as a police constable for 27 years and head constable for seven years. “Our batch is lucky as a few of us got promoted after nine years of service compared to our seniors who worked for 24 years for their first promotion,” said Nandeesh P of Subramanyapura police station, who got promoted as head constable.