It is slave labour: Home Guards

​Hyderabad: How does it feel to work 12-18 hours a day under oppressive conditions all through the week without a day off and risking pay cut on a daily basis? One has to be stoic to bear all this. The quintessence of this is home guard -- the paramilitary police force tasked as an auxiliary to the police.

Home guards have always been in the front line of duty, be it regulating traffic under the scorching sun, filling potholes, slowing down traffic or clearing road stretches with stagnant water during rains. All told, they lead a pathetic life. They don’t have a weekly off or any other type of leave facility.

If they do not attend duty even due to sickness, their salaries are deducted. The home guards put in about 12 to 18 hours of duty, but get a paltry salary of Rs 12,000 per month. Women home guards bemoan that they don’t even get maternity leave.

Talking to The Hans India, president of All India Home Guard Welfare Association S Narayana said that their condition was worse than that of bonded labour. There were many instances of their being
misused as orderlies in the official bungalows of top officials, he said.

Lakshmi, a home guard with three daughters, said she was facing several hardships as she was not able to put in about 12 hours of duty with no weekly off or leave. There was no job guarantee and they were not entitled to any benefits, she said.

Rajeshwari, another home guard, said that they did not even have the facility of ESCI, Arogyasri cards or any other health cards. Going to a doctor means they have to spend at least Rs 300 for consultation and another Rs 200 for medicines.

They are not granted any kind of leave even if they happen to be suffering from fever. She said she had a three-month-old baby and was forced to leave her behind for over 12 hours. “If I take leave to take my baby to a doctor, one day salary is deducted,” she said.

Home guard Raghu said that the Telangana State government had assured that all policemen, from constable to inspector rank, working in the traffic police wing would get 30 per cent additional salary calculated on their basic pay.

But the home guards, despite bearing the brunt of controlling traffic, don't get a single rupee as additional honorarium. He said that though vehicular exhausts were known to cause lung-related ailments, home guards had no option but to stand at busy junctions and regulate traffic. Even in the case of drunk driving, it was they who faced maximum risks, he said.

Home guards rued that some time back Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao had hailed them as 'mini police' and had assured them that they would get one day as weekly off and that their salaries would be hiked. Yet, nothing has been done till date.