Recruitment of Special Police Officers became a necessity in the face of proliferation of militancy in State in last two decades. The proxy war unleashed by Pakistan was carried out by its handlers essentially by either bribing or intimidating ordinary village folks. Militants would use various methods with the objective of registering the support of villagers especially those located close to the border. All these activities could not be tracked and controlled by the police for various reasons. Therefore the induction of Special Police Officers became necessary as an important adjunct to security paraphernalia. Today we have as many as 24870 SPOs across the three regions of the State. Expenditures borne on this segment of Home Ministry’s establishment is under the head Security Related Expenditure (SRE) of the Home Ministry.
In addition to the SPOs, the Government created another layer of security protection called Village Defence Committees. Such Committees numbering 4122 have been created in Jammu and Ladakh regions only and not in Kashmir valley where militancy is widespread. The VDCs are not paid any wages whereas PSOs are paid at the rate of Rs. 3000/- per head per month. Two issues arose in this arrangement and the Government has been seized of it for some time. One was that the wages of SPOs were too insignificant and needed to be enhanced. The second was that the VDC, though performing its role under surcharged circumstances could not function unless they were paid wages to survive and render duty to the nation. For quite some time these issues have been under the consideration of the Ministry of Home Affairs because, as we said, it is the affiliate of Home Ministry and receives funding from that source. As the demand of VDCs increased, the Home Ministry decided to attach two SPOs to the VDCs with the condition that the salaries would be equally shared by the VDCs including two SPOs. Looking in retrospect it was a rather unjust decision because in practice, it meant that a SPO would not get more than seven hundred or eight hundred rupees per month as his wages because he had to share his wages with others in the Committee.
The Home Ministry has now tried to resolve this issue by doubling the wages of the SPOs from Rs. 3000/- pm to Rs. 6000/- per month. Though that is not a satisfactory amount keeping in mind the cost of living, yet it does bring relief to the SPOs. They will appreciate the decision of the MHA.
A total of 4603 SPOs are working with the VDCs while 1972 VDCs are without SPOs. Out of 24,870 SPOs, 14845 are working in Kashmir division and 8338 in Jammu region. Moreover, 1687 SPOs are working in different departments. Though the MHA has taken a very sympathetic view of the case in its totality, yet an anomaly of sorts is visible. First, a division is created between VDCs with attached SPOs and those without SPOs. Around 1972 VDCs are without attached SPOs. This means the members of these VDCs do not get even a single penny by way of shared wages with SPOs while the VDCs with attached SPOs (4603 in number) would get the shared wages. This is a blatant anomaly. Secondly, the SPOs in Kashmir region do not share their wages with any VDC because there are no VDCs in Kashmir Division. This creates two tiers of SPOs, one who have to share their wages with VDC and the other who have not to share it. From administrative point of view this disparity is ill advised and should be rationalized.
Therefore, while appreciating the decision of the Ministry of Home Affairs that doubles the wages of the SPOs, we would like to suggest to the Ministry to reconsider the question of regular wages to the members of the VDC as well through a rationalized process. The organization of VDCs needs to be reframed and upgraded to render adequate services. Militants are fully aware of the strategic importance of Chenab Valley to their subversive activities. Big hauls of arms and ammunition have been made in the heights of Kishtwar forests. Many terrorist leaders have been liquidated in this region. The VDCs have also come under attacks of the terrorists more than once. And more importantly, Pakistan-based infiltrators have changed tactics and are using the Kathua and International Border along Samba -Kathua districts as their new route for carrying on their subversive activities. It is important that strong VDCs are established along the villages and localities close to the International Border along these two districts. The Ministry of Home Affairs will have to do some rethinking on this particular aspect.
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