Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee’s government has opened its coffers for civic volunteers three weeks after one of them was arrested in the rape and murder of the 31-year-old postgraduate trainee doctor at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital
The state government has enhanced the termination benefit of civic volunteers after the age of 60 from the existing Rs 3 lakh to Rs 5 lakh, according to an order issued on August 28, .
“The amount of one time terminal benefit in respect of the Civic Volunteers under West Bengal Police and Kolkata Police and the Village Police Volunteers under West Bengal Police will be increased from Rs. 3,00,000/- (Three Lakh) to Rs. 5,00,000/- (Five Lakh) on existing terms and conditions,” reads the order, which states that the decision was taken after “careful consideration” and will be implemented from April 1 this year.
Copies of the orders were marked to the acting director-general of police Rajeev Kumar and Calcutta police commissioner Vineet Goyal.
Brief history of civic volunteers
On August 2, 2008, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation and the Kolkata Police had enrolled 560 volunteers, including 56 women, on a daily allowance of Rs 89. They were known as the Green Police.
Their responsibilities included keeping their area of operation free from ragpickers, collecting information on unauthorised parking or hawking, protecting and maintaining trees in the Maidan area and the parks, passing information on waterlogging.
Most of them were actually deployed in directing traffic on city streets.
“That was the first such contingent to be embedded into the policing system,” said a senior officer in the Kolkata Police.
In January 2013, two years after she came to power, Mamata announced that 1,26,000 civic volunteers would be recruited. They were then introduced as “civic police”.
After objections from the Police Association, the “police” was dropped and the force came to be known as civic volunteers.
A favourite former top bureaucrat of the chief minister used to describe the civic volunteers as a “parastatal force”.
“There was always an opacity surrounding their recruitment,” a retired IPS officer told The Telegraph Online. “SPs in the districts and the divisional deputy commissioners in Kolkata Police were given the responsibility of making the recruitment.
“However, unlike other forces like the home guard, the government never set up a controlling authority,” the officer added. Different senior IPS officers have been designated "nodal authority" over the years.
For example, the West Bengal Home Guards Act was enacted in 1962 which made the Calcutta police’s commissioner and the district superintendents of police the ex-officio additional commandant general of the home guards.
Before that, the national volunteer force was created with the West Bengal National Volunteer Force Act of 1949 for recruiting residents including domiciled ones who may offer themselves for such enrolment for service during a period of emergency or as and when desired by the state government.
For the 1,19,916 civic volunteers recruited by the state government till date, there is no single controlling authority.
The officers-in-charge of the police stations in Calcutta and the inspectors-in-charge in the district police stations recruit youths, often on the recommendations of the local ruling party bosses.
The retired IPS officer who spoke to The Telegraph Online said some of the previous DGPs like Surajit Kar Purakayastha and Virendra held regular review meetings during their tenure.
The role of the civic volunteers and the ruling Trinamul’s dependence on the force came into focus during the 2018 panchayat elections when they were deployed for the first time on poll duty despite protests from the Opposition.
“The state government and the ruling party are taking advantage of the pitiful condition of Bengal’s unemployed youths,” said BJP leader and former MP Dilip Ghosh.
“The police are engaging them in carrying out their nefarious activities which is bringing a bad name to them. On the other side the civic volunteers too have their grievances. No one knows whether they will actually get this money ever. How long can a government run by offering doles to different sections of the society?”