While the State police top brass looked relieved, sure in their belief that Mission Mahavrat, launched on the social networking sites as part of silent stir over poor salary and adverse working condition, has petered out following arrest of a teacher, suspension of three cops and transfer of some others. The observers on the other hand, say that the resentment is still smouldering in the force with the demands remaining unfulfilled. Some of them say that police brass should come forward to redress the grievances of the personnel on the ground instead of arresting somebody outside the force and suspending or transferring a few here and there. “This is a knee- jerk treatment of a serious matter which keeps coming up at intervals, forcing the brass to swing into retaliatory action instead of snubbing out the flame once and for all,” said an observer.
Senior cops on Monday said that they were relieved as no dissenting posting came out from the police personnel on the social networking sites or no report of boycott of lunch or dinner was received. However, they are not leaving anything to chance as the personnel who can foment fresh trouble are being kept under strict vigil. Notably, the agitated personnel had threatened to launch stir by some tokens on January 6 in case their demands as mentioned in the letter written to the chief minister remained unaddressed till then. The demands include hike in grade pay and allowances, allowance against gazetted holidays, full salary during training, cash against leave, special allowances for civil and armed police forces and hike in nutrition allowances. Around two years ago, similar things had happened in the force known as Mission Akrosh and later their pay anomalies had been partially addressed, resulting in the restoration of normalcy in the force. Interestingly, the teacher identified as Rakesh Tomar, resident of Kalsi in Dehradun, who was arrested on Sunday had allegedly incited Mission Akrosh too.
Seniors cops are still claiming that nothing has happened and all was sheer rumour mongering by some agent provocateurs. However, some insiders say that the fire is yet to die down, no matter what the senior cops say about the stir having fizzled out. “Nothing of this kind would ever happen in the force as it is a disciplined force,” ADG law and order Ashok Kumar affirmed. However, the truth is that many personnel have been caught circulating hostile postings on the social networking sites like wahasapp and face book. “Things can hardly be brushed away as the police brass is now doing as the problem plaguing the force is real and the grievances being aired are real,” said a senior police officer while insisting on anonymity.