No Salary for 5 Months, UP Home Guards to Launch Protests If They Stay Unpaid

Lucknow:Scores of home guards in Uttar Pradesh, who serve as an auxiliary force to the state police in maintenance of internal security situations, have said they will organise a statewide demonstration if the government fails to release their pending salaries immediately. Taking out a rally on June 22 in Lucknow to protest against the pending salaries, the home guards claimed that they have not been paid since the past five months.

Led by Uttar Pradesh Home Guards Avaitanik Adhikari Evam Karamchari Association (Uttar Pradesh Home Guard Unpaid Officials and Employee Association) member Lal Bhadur Pathakal, over a hundred home guards, who had come from different parts of the state including Azamgarh, Bulandshahr, Hamirpur, Mau and Basti, participated in the protest rally.

"We demand immediate grant of our salaries, which have not been released to us for the past five-six months. While wages of police officials have been releasing timely, that of home guards have been withheld," Ramendra Kumar Yadav, president of the Uttar Pradesh Home Guard Unpaid Officials and Employee Association told NewClick.

Home guards Manoj Sharma and Vinod Kumar, posted in Bulandshahr's Khurja have alleged that they have not received salaries for the past five months despite serving on the front lines during the COVID-19 lockdown. "Since January, we have not been getting salaries, but even then we have been performing security duties in hotspot areas putting our lives at risk and also taking part in anti-crime operations with the police. Is that our crime?," one of the guards asked, adding that the situation is pushing them to the brink of poverty.

"I went through a very difficult time during the lockdown. I was at a point where I was not eating food for two-three days at a time,” said Vinod, whose wife and two children who stayed with him, had to be sent back to their native village due to financial crunch.

"Home guard jawans and their families are suffering from starvation due to non-payment of duty allowance for five months. Even those thousands of home guard personnel who had so duty fully served the state during the Kumbh Mela held in Prayagraj were not paid even after six months after congregation," Ram Kumar Dwivedi said.

The association alleged that the deputy commandant general of the home guards headquarters informed them via WhatsApp that the budget had arrived but due to the laxity of departmental officials, till date, the money of Kumbh Mela has not been disbursed. "The condition of home guards across the state is the same, the jawans posted in metropolitan cities like Lucknow, Kanpur or Noida are getting salary on time but those posted in rural areas are not getting salaries," Dwivedi added, saying that that they are doing a commendable job by putting their lives at risk to ensure safety of others.

According to the Uttar Pradesh Home Guard Unpaid Officials and Employee Association, even though the government has issued strict guidelines to release the salary of home guards latest by 20th of every month but, every month there is a delay and the guards have to wait for their salaries.

There are about 1 lakh home guards across the state who earn Rs 500 daily. They are assigned duties and paid daily wages. Many of these home guards are posted at traffic intersections, VIP duty, crowd management at rallies and functions.

Last year, the Adityanath-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government had sacked 25,000 home guards due to a fund crunch.