Jagraon 29 November ( Manjinder Gill )-
Police Department observes 21 october every year as commemoration day and claim to help the families of martyred police cops but on the ground level, the many families have been struggling for years to get the jobs promised by the government. Telling more about this, Iqbal Singh Rasulpur, General Secretary of Human Rights Organization and Advocate Satinderpal Singh Dhaliwal, legal advisor said that the Organization has been actively helping the families affected during the ‘black days’ of Punjab. Under this series, the association has initiated helping families of martyred police cops during the time of terrorism in state. They further stated that every year, police department conducts a program on 21 october in order to pay tribute to the martyrs and promises every possible help to their families but when association visited some of the poor families of martyred police they found out they still struggle to get a job from government. According to the association, the family said that 3 members from the family of another martyred were given government jobs but not even one member from their family has been given any job by government. The association said that the family of matryr has visited SSP office and DGP office many times but in vain. Showing different police records, Rasulpur said that during the reign of DGP Sumedh Saini, rich families of martyrs were given more than 1 job in same family but the needy families are still struggling to find a way to earn money. Rasulpur added that after legal fight for 4 years the association has been successful in getting jobs for some of the needy families. When association initiated to get a job for these families in police department, DGP office denied saying that they already have a job with them and it is not possible to provide them with another job.
The official records say:-
As an answer to a question, Adv. Dhaliwal stated that in 7 years long struggle for right, the Organization had to write more than 2500 RTIs applications and had to make mulitiple visits to Governmental offices including DGP office, Ludhiana Rural Police, Commission police Ludhiana, Police District Bathinda, Pathankot, Jalandhar Rural, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Fatehgarh, Fazilka, Sangrur, Taran taran, Faridkot, Amritsar and others and according to the records obtained from nearly 16 Police Departments of different District, the Organization found out there are 282 marytr police cops and 165 family members from their families were given 2-2 or 3-3 jobs while the remaining 117 families are those who were given only 1-1 job by the DGP police.
He also talked about a family and said that 4 women from this family are struggling to get a job and the pension since 1991 that is nearly 27 years. They have not been given any facility by the Government or the Police Department. Similarly, the families of martyr Homeguard Nirmal Singh and Homeguard Balvir Singh are struggling to get a second job.
The facilities promised to families of martyrs :
Advocate Satinder Pal Dhaliwal talking about the facilities promised by the Department said that as per the information gathered from the rehabilitation centre and Government Revenue office, the families of cops and civil administrations who were killed during the ‘black days’ of the state are given 5000 rupees as pension, job to an able family member, free travelling in Government buses, expenses of education of children and 2% reservation in government schemes and other facilities.
The efforts made by association:-
Advocate Dhaliwal said that in order to help the family of martyr get its right the Organization stood firm with the family for 7 years. The volunteers met SSP Jagraon, DGP Suresh Arora, ADGP MK Tiwari, ADGP Arpit Shukla while they approached the then CM Prakash Singh Badal for help and on the instructions of present CM Captain Amrinder Singh they visited Addl. Chief Secretary Amrit Kaur Gill with all records but the situation is still the same. They further said that looking at government’s partial conduct towards the poor family, the Organization has filed complaints in the office of Punjab S C Commission and the Commission has asked the government to submit their answer. The Organization also mentioned that they are ready to fiel a petition regarding this in High Court if the situation demands.
