65,000 Bihar policemen to go on mass leave demanding pay hike
Escalating its agitation for pay raise and other demands, the Bihar Policemen’s Association (BPA) on Sunday launched a signature campaign for over 65,000 constables to go on five days’ mass leave on October 10.
The BPA is demanding grade pay of Rs 2,000 at par with other states, appointment of a ‘havaldar’ (constable) over every four constables and an assistant sub-inspector over 12 constables.
“We are providing forms to all police constables across the state for their signature in support of mass leave,” BPA president Jitendra Kumar Singh said.
The association threatened mass leave by the constabulary after talks between the state government and the BPA failed last week.
Singh said the association is still hopeful that the state police headquarters will meet its demands. “If the police headquarters come forward on Monday to fulfill our demands, we will not go on mass leave,” he said.
He said policemen would not join duty during the mass leave if their demands were not met.
In the first phase of protests on September 10, the constables wore black badges on duty. They staged a sit-in during duty hours on September 18 followed by two mass hunger strikes – September 26-28 and October 3-5.
