Lucknow: The Uttar Pradesh government has replaced Additional Director General (ADG) of Police (Dial 112) Ashok Singh as part of a reshuffle following agitations by contractual women employees of the state’s emergency helpline service in Lucknow and Ghaziabad.
Four senior IPS officers have been shuffled. Ashok Singh has been moved to the state DGP headquarters, and ADG (administration) Neera Rawat has been appointed in his place. Meanwhile, acting Director General of Police (DGP) Vijaya Kumar has been divested of the charge of director general (crime branch, crime investigation department) and appointed as full-time DG (vigilance). Senior police officer Anand Kumar has been appointed as DG (CB-CID) in his place. Vijaya Kumar will, however, continue as acting DGP.
In a letter issued to the UP DGP Wednesday evening, Yogesh Kumar, special secretary, UP government, named the transferred officers and their posts. The UP home department shared the letter on social media platform X.
पुलिस महानिदेशक सीबीसीआईडी श्री विजय कुमार निदेशक सतर्कता अधिष्ठान उत्तर प्रदेश के पद पर नियुक्त किये गये हैं। डीजीपी यूपी का अतिरिक्त प्रभार यथावत बना रहेगा।@CMOfficeUP @UPGovt @sanjaychapps1 @Uppolice pic.twitter.com/dVbO1eXdl5
— HOME DEPARTMENT UP (@homeupgov) November 8, 2023
The women employees of the Dial 112 service are demanding that they be reabsorbed by the new vendor of the service and their pay be increased to Rs 18,000 per month from the current Rs 12,000, along with benefits like weekly offs and two paid leaves per month. They also claim that they have been working on the same salary for the past seven years, and have sought a meeting with Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath to convey their grievances.
On Wednesday, more than 200 women employees were booked by the police under IPC sections including rioting and unlawful assembly.
Anand Kumar, once reported to be in the reckoning for the UP DGP’s job, has been given a significant posting after he was removed as DG (jail) post the murder of BJP leader and lawyer Umesh Pal in February this year.
His removal order was issued in March, in the aftermath of the disclosure that slain gangster Ashraf Ahmed and his associates had allegedly hatched the conspiracy to kill Pal in Bareilly jail, and that Mukhtar Ansari’s MLA son Abbas had allegedly met his wife while incarcerated in Chitrakoot jail.
Anand Kumar was given charge of DG (cooperative cell), but now his appointment as DG (CB-CID) is being seen as a comeback.
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Protest by Dial 112 employees
The reshuffle of senior IPS officers comes in the aftermath of Tuesday’s protest by several female contractual employees of Dial 112 outside the service’s Lucknow headquarters.
A senior UP government official told ThePrint that while the tender for providing Dial 112 service has been given to a new company, the latter has not absorbed the existing employees so far, sparking protests.
“The tender has been given to a new company and the service is in a transition phase. Now, it is up to the new company whether it will absorb the old employees or not. The employees want increase in salary,” the official said.
More than 200 women employees were booked by the police Wednesday under IPC sections 147 (rioting), 149 (unlawful assembly), 188 (disobedience to an order lawfully promulgated by a public servant), 283 (danger or obstruction in public way), and 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint).
In the wake of the protests, former UP CM Akhilesh Yadav, under whose regime the service was started as ‘Dial 100’, criticised the Adityanath government. The name was changed to Dial 112 under the Adityanath regime, and emergency services like police, fire and ambulance were integrated under it.
Sharing a video of the women employees’ protest, the Samajwadi Party (SP) chief wrote on social media: “The SP sent a team and after in-depth study of America’s NYPD (New York Police Department) and other systems, ‘Dial 100’ was developed as one of the best police response systems. But this BJP government has ruined it by handing it to incompetent people.”
“Lodging of an FIR against women employees of ‘Dial 100’ is another example of BJP’s harassment of women,” he added.
सपा ने टीम भेजकर अमेरिका के NYPD (न्यूयार्क पुलिस डिपार्टमेंट) व अन्य व्यवस्थाओं के गहन अध्ययन के पश्चात् विश्व के सबसे अच्छे पुलिस रिस्पांस सिस्टम के रूप में ‘डायल 100’ की व्यवस्था बनायी थी। लेकिन ये भाजपा सरकार उसे अयोग्य हाथों में सौंपकर उसका भी बंटाधार कर रही है।
‘डायल 100’… pic.twitter.com/KeOsZ4W1fh
— Akhilesh Yadav (@yadavakhilesh) November 8, 2023
‘Cooperative cell had no work’
Referring to Anand Kumar’s posting, a senior UP police officer told ThePrint that the Special Investigation Bureau (SIB) of the cooperative cell has been merged with the CB-CID and hence, the cooperative cell has “no work”.
“For a long time, discussions were on that having a DG-level officer for the cooperative cell served no purpose as the cell has been merged with the CB-CID. Anand Kumar has been entrusted with a bigger responsibility, considering he is a senior and decorated police officer,” the officer added.
Senior IPS officer Vijaya Kumar was appointed as acting DGP of the state in May, after former acting DGP R. K. Vishwakarma’s retirement, and is the third acting DGP of the state in a row.
Before Vishwakarma, D.S. Chauhan was the acting DGP of the state till March.
The appointment of the UP DGP has remained controversial ever since former DGP Mukul Goel (the last permanent DGP of the state) was unceremoniously removed from the post in 2022, attracting objections from the Union Public Service Commission, which selects a state DGP from a panel suggested by the state government.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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