Achhe din seems to have finally arrived for the overworked policemen of Madhya Pradesh. Chief Minister Kamal Nath’s government has granted compulsory weekly offs for all police personnel of the state, implementing a poll promise that Congress made ahead of the assembly elections.
It was a first weekly off for hundreds of policemen who up until now, used to work seven days a week, all year round. The police personnel were earlier entitled to sick, casual and earned leaves, but no weekly offs.
The majority of the policemen who got their first off, chose to go out with their families and spend quality time with them.
A 56-year-old sub-inspector, Uma Shankar Mishra, got his first weekly off in 38 years on Thursday. “It feels awesome. I stayed with my family and even tried to finish as much pending work as I could. It’s the same feeling you get when you take a first vacation. I joined the fore in 1981 and this is the first time that I got a weekly off. It helps relieve stress,” Mishra, who is posted at Habibganj police station, told Times of India.
Among other policemen rejoicing was an assistant sub-inspector posted at Bairagarh, Rakesh Sharma. He had two children skip school and went with them to his ancestral home in Narsinghgarh. “It was a nice outing and it feels great,” Sharma said. He added that this wasn’t possible before as police personnel were required to reach work by 10 am and only got home around midnight on most days.
Two days after the government made the announcement on New Year’s Day, the order was implemented on Thursday. According to reports, as many as 425 policemen were given their weekly off on Thursday.
CM Kamal Nath tweeted after the roll-out saying, “We have completed the promise we made to the police personnel of giving them a weekly off. I congratulate the police force and hope they can spend due time with their families.”
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