Prime Minister Tarique Rahman has announced increases in the pay, retirement gratuity and various allowances of village police members. Under the new decision, the monthly salary of ordinary village police members has been raised from Tk 7,500 to Tk 10,500, and that of village police chiefs from Tk 8,000 to Tk 11,000.
The prime minister made the announcements on Saturday afternoon (7 November) at a mass rally of village police at the National Parade Ground in Tejgaon in the capital. He said steps had been taken to bring the new benefits into effect from the historic 7 November.
Under the new decision, the retirement gratuity of ordinary village police members has been raised from Tk 70,000 to Tk 80,000. For village police chiefs it has been set at Tk 1 lakh (100,000), up from Tk 80,000.
In addition, every village police member will be given Tk 150 a month to cover mobile phone costs. The travel allowance for weekly attendance at the police station has been raised from Tk 300 to Tk 500 for ordinary members and from Tk 300 to Tk 600 for village police chiefs.
The prime minister also said two more women village police members will be recruited in every union to create jobs for women and empower them. He announced six months of maternity leave for women village police members.
Stressing the importance of their duties, Tarique Rahman said village police play a vital role in ensuring security at the grassroots. They can get advance information on what is happening in a village, who is getting involved in crime, or whether law and order is at risk of deteriorating anywhere. If they pass this information quickly to the local administration and law enforcement agencies, effective action can be taken to prevent crime.
He said that if every village and union is safe, the whole of Bangladesh will be safe. Ensuring peace and comfort for rural people would have a positive effect at the national level too, he said, adding that securing the safety of people in rural areas is essential to building a developed and prosperous Bangladesh.
Referring to the political situation of the past, the prime minister said that under the fascist regime, decay set in not only in the political system but also in society. Social harmony, compassion and mutual goodwill were destroyed by stoking conflicts of interest and between groups, he said, and the effect spread from families to grassroots society.
To overcome this, he stressed upholding law and order as well as establishing religious and social values and reviving harmony and compassion among people. He said village police members, as representatives of the local administration, have a role to play in this.
Addressing village police members, Tarique Rahman said they must be lawful, humane, impartial and people-friendly in carrying out their duties. Building safe unions and villages requires coordination between the local administration, responsible village police and an aware public, he said.
The prime minister also highlighted the role of village police in natural disasters and emergencies. He said they work in coordination with the local administration during floods, cyclones and fires. Much of their work does not make newspaper headlines, but it plays an important part in keeping order locally, he said.
Outlining the continuity of efforts to improve village police pay, the prime minister said that in 1995, under the government of former prime minister Begum Khaleda Zia, an Eid bonus for village police was announced for the first time and put into effect. Continuing that, the current government has taken the new decisions to improve the living standards of more than 40,000 village police members and their families, he said.
He also announced that one long road in every union will be named “Gram Police Sarak” (Village Police Road). Trees will be planted along these roads under the social forestry programme, and when they are grown, the money from selling them will be shared among the village police members of that union.
Village police members currently receive a bicycle every five years. The prime minister said he would instruct the Local Government Ministry to shorten this to three to three and a half years.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report