Assistant police personnel called off their agitation on Wednesday after the Hemant Soren government agreed to extend their services for two more years and promised to look into their remaining demands.
The protestors announced a truce after a marathon 5 hour-long meeting with state water resource’s minister Mithilesh Thakur that was held at his residence from 12 noon.
Over 2,500 assistant policemen and women had been camping at Morabadi ground since September 11 to press for their demands which included regularisation of jobs, increase in honorarium from the existing Rs 10,000 per month and allowances at par with regular policemen.
On Friday, September 18, their protest turned violent when they clashed with police. Over a dozen people sustained injuries. On Saturday, chief minister Hemant Soren appointed Thakur to negotiate with the protestors, who did not budge from the venue till the state government provided them a commitment in writing.
On Wednesday, the state government agreed to extend their services for two years and assured them that a high-level committee would look into their demands on priority.
Thakur said, “The assistant police personnel have announced an end to their protest. They will return to their districts immediately. After speaking with the chief minister, I have assured them that their services would be extended for another two years. We will form a committee to look into their other demands.”
Avinash Kumar Dwivedi, one of the protestors, who took part in Wednesday’s discussions, sounded satisfied. “We got a two-year extension to begin with. We are hopeful of positive steps with regard to our other demands. We are returning to our place of posting to work in tandem with the state government,” he said.
Notably, assistant police personnel were hired on contract basis in 2017 on monthly honorarium of Rs 10,000 by the former BJP government headed by Raghubar Das. They were then assured permanent reinstatement gradually. However, after their contract period ended in August this year, their contracts weren’t renewed by the JMM-Congress-RJD government until they resorted to their stir which culminated today.
