AP Govt to increase insurance cover for police personnel to Rs 75 lakh: YS Jagan

VIJAYAWADA: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy said that the State Government has discussed with the top management of the State Bank of India (SBI) to provide insurance to families of police personnel to the tune of Rs 30 lakh to Rs 75 lakh, which will be implemented soon.

YS Jagan paid tribute to the police martyrs who laid down their lives in their line of duty. Addressing police personnel on Police Commemoration Day at the Indira Gandhi Municipal Stadium here on Saturday, the Chief Minister reiterated the Government’s commitment to support the families of the police personnel who sacrificed lives.

“The police uniform stands for sacrifice and the three-lion symbol stands for the sovereignty of the country,” he said, and added that the country has been observing Police Commemoration Day for the last 64 years. He handed over a cheque of Rs 30 lakh to the wife of G Narender who was killed by anti-social elements during the Ganesh festival at Agiripalli in Eluru district.

YS Jagan said that despite being citizen-friendly and acting with a human touch, the police should not compromise on maintaining law and order and ensuring the safety of girls and women, especially those of the oppressed classes. “At a time when criminals are adopting modern methods, the police also need to adopt innovative ideas to curb crimes while updating themselves on scientific investigation of crimes,” he said.

Stressing on the need to redefine the words ‘anti social elements’, the Chief Minister said that the gangs who were trying to take the law into their hands in the name of freedom of the press, human rights and democracy for selfish ends were also anti-social. Referring to the recent violent incidents at Angallu and Punganur, he said that certain groups, aimed at disturbing the peace in society, were trying to attack the Government. They were also anti-social, he said, and urged the police to deal with them sternly.

“Even the courts of law and judicial officers are being heckled and trolled on social media and TV debates are being conducted by those who didn’t get judgements in their favor after being caught with evidence,” he said and added that such elements were also anti-social.

Listing out the measures taken to strengthen the police system in the State, the Chief Minister said that Andhra Pradesh police, equipped with a strong team of 30 cyber experts, stands first in the country in the investigation of cyber crimes. Apart from that, as many as 16, 000 women police were appointed at the village and ward secretariat level.

“The salaries of the Home Guards have been hiked to Rs 21, 300 from Rs. 12, 000 in July 2018, four new IR battalions have been created in the last 52 months, implementation of weekly-offs to the constables and providing an ex-gratia of Rs.17 lakh to the families of 201 police personnel each, who lost their lives due to the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.

Unfortunately, the State Government’s efforts to appoint around 6,500 new staff in the department, which included 450 SIs, were marred in legal battles, YS Jagan said, and asked the DGP KV Rajendranath Reddy to take steps to clear the legal hurdles at the earliest. Explaining about the steps taken to provide for the safety of women in the State, he said that Disha police stations were established and Disha Public Prosecutors were appointed to help women.

The Chief Minister said that around 1.25 crore women downloaded the Disha mobile application and rescued as many as 31,200 women were rescued by the police through this app. Later, he laid a wreath at the Police memorial and observed a two-minute silence in memory of the police martyrs.

Home Minister Taneti Vanita, Chief Secretary Dr KS Jawahar Reddy, DGP KV Rajendranath Reddy and senior officials were also present.