Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik on Monday told the Assembly that the Government has no plan to regularise the services of the Home Guards working in Odisha. "As per Section 2 of the Orissa Home Guards Act, 1961, Home Guards is a voluntary body. There is no provision to regularise the services of Home Guards and treat them as Fourth Grade Government Servant," the CM said in response to MlA Anubhab Patnaik.
The Chief Minister said as many as 17,675 Home Guards are now serving across the State. They are getting Duty Call-UP allowance of Rs 240 per day each. They are paid food packet allowance of Rs 50 per day if they work over normal eight hours and washing allowance of Rs 25 per month. As per provision, a Home Guard gets Rs 4 lakh in case of death, Rs 2 lakh for permanent incapacitation and Rs 1 lakh for partial incapacitation, the CM said.