Home Guards JAC Threatens to Boycott Duties

Hyderabad: The Home Guards working with the Telangana State Police department have decided to boycott their duties in view of their colleague Nagam Ravinder’s suicide attempt near the commandant’s office at Goshamahal on Tuesday due to alleged delay in salary.

The Home Guards protesting there said, “Ravinder’s case is not an isolated one. There are around 18,000 Home Guards deployed with the Telangana police department share similar bitter experiences.”

Scores of Home Guards from across the state thronged the Osmania general hospital expressing solidarity. They urged the state government and also the police department to consider their genuine demands.

“We work on par with any officer in the department, but when it comes to salary and other benefits, we stand below everyone,” they lamented.

They claimed that there are several other serious issues in addition to the delay in payment of salaries. They have been demanding regularisation of their services for a very long time and other benefits. “We have been submitting representations to top officials in the department, state government and also to the ministers, but all of them have fallen on deaf ears,” alleged Sakinala Satyanarayana from the Home Guards JAC.

Satyanarayana said that they have decided to boycott duties and would also conduct protests in a phased manner.“We have already approached the city police to hold a protest at Dharna Chowk and are awaiting permission,” he said.

Others alleged that some officers in their department are misleading the top brass and the state government and ensuring that our demands are not fulfilled. They also claimed harassment from senior officials and also humiliation by regular employees in the police force.