JAMMU — Senior BJP leader and Leader of Opposition Sunil Sharma on Sunday said the Union government was set to announce a “respectable” salary hike for Special Police Officers (SPOs) in Jammu and Kashmir, with a proposal from the J&K government already submitted to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Addressing a press conference, Sharma, as reported by the news agency KNS, said the BJP-led Union government under Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah had worked for the welfare of SPOs and Village Defence Guards (VDGs).
He said the proposal for revising SPO salaries was at an advanced stage.
“All BJP members, their hopes and expectations are on Narendra Modi and Amit Shah. When the BJP government was formed in 2014, Narendra Modi immediately regulated the salary of SPOs. He also increased it, and SPOs are currently drawing salaries up to Rs 18,000,” he said.
Speaking about VDGs, Sharma said the Village Defence Groups had earlier faced uncertainty over their legal status and salaries, which, he claimed, had led to agitation and surrender of weapons by some members.
He said the Centre subsequently approved a system under which payments were transferred directly to individual VDG members through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT), replacing the earlier committee-based arrangement.
“The VDGs were almost disbanding. There was no law for VDGs. Their salaries were not named. You saw there was a lot of agitation. A lot of VDG members surrendered their weapons,” he said.
“Then the Home Minister again took a proposal from the Jammu and Kashmir government in which your salary came under Direct Benefit Transfer to your account. Instead of a committee, you were given an individual identity as a guard. That is, there was a committee. Whatever had to be done in the name of the committee had to be decided. Now, the decision has to be made in the name of one person. That is why the Village Defence Guard was formed. And the Village Defence Guards are also getting salaries of Rs 4,000-4,500,” he said.
Sharma said efforts were also under way to increase VDG salaries, while acknowledging difficulties concerning members who were awaiting payments.
“We are trying, we are trying to increase your salary. But we have another challenge in front of us. It is not unpaid. There are those who are demanding to increase their salaries. But they are also unpaid. They say, why should we start?” he said.
Assuring VDG members of the BJP’s support, Sharma said party MPs were listening to their concerns and giving priority to their demands.
“I assure you that all of us MPs, the process that is going on today, we are listening to everyone. In this, we have given importance to VDG. You came here. Your full respect and respect is in our hearts. And for you, that is also a separate sympathy. You do not even need to tell. We remember the pain from 1990 to today,” he said.
“When you all came forward for the protection of this country, we will try to respect that. And we will start a process to increase your salary and get unpaid from the Home Ministry,” he said.
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