Andhra Pradesh: Insurance in the offing for police families

Vijayawada: Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said the welfare of the families of police personnel who lay down lives in discharge of duties is of utmost importance to the Government.

“Talks were concluded with the top management of the SBI to provide insurance to such families of police personnel to the tune of Rs 30 lakh to Rs 75 lakh,” he said, adding that it would materialise soon.

Listing out the measures taken to strengthen the police system in the state, he said that 16, 000 women police have been appointed at the village and ward secretariat level.

He said that salaries of the home guards have been hiked to Rs 21, 300 from Rs 12, 000 in July 2018 and four new IR battalions were created in the last 52 months, besides providing weekly-offs to the constables and providing an ex-gratia of Rs 17 lakh to the families of 201 police personnel each, who lost their lives due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Unfortunately, government’s efforts to appoint 6,500 new staff in the department including 450 SIs have been marred in legal battles, he said, and asked the DGP to take steps to clear the legal hurdles at the earliest.

Explaining about the steps taken to provide the safety of women in the state, he said that Disha police stations have been established and Disha Public Prosecutors have been appointed to help women.

He said that the Disha app has been downloaded by 1.25 crore women and 31, 200 women have been rescued by the police through this app.

He laid a wreath at the Police Memorial and observed a two-minute silence in memory of the police martyrs.

Home Minister T Vanita, chief secretary Dr K S Jawahar Reddy, DGP K V Rajendranath Reddy and senior officials also participated in the programme.