Promotions on cards for constables

HYDERABAD: Having suffered a ''regressive'' promotion system for over a decade, a demotivated state police constabulary has stepped up its demand for faster promotions, with some success.
According to sources, after they barraged the government with representations, the chief minister recently agreed to meet a delegation to discuss a specific proposal for faster constabulary promotions before Feb.15.
The proposal to be discuss pertains to the idea, announced earlier by home minister T Devender Goud, of promoting 80 per cent of the civil constabulary to assistant sub-inspector rank.
"The elections are drawing close and this is the only time when the government would lend us an ear," says a senior constable explaining their urgency in taking up the matter with the government.
According to constables, a correction in their promotion system was long overdue.
In 1989, the state government, through an order, made constable promotions based on seniority. This meant that only constables who had served for over two decades were sent to write departmental test for promotion.
"Till 1989, constables who had served for at least four years were called for a written test and only if they cleared it were they promoted. Thus, they had a motivation to be the best. But after the seniority criterion was enforced, the constables have to wait at least 20 years to get promotion. So where is the motivation to work?" rues a city constable.
According to a Commissioner''s Task Force constable, he can''t go to his village in interior Telangana as the family has received death threats in his name. "We (constables) have to put up with such situations, take the bullets and do the dirty work; yet we are the ones who are least cared for," the Task Force policeman says.
According to AP State Police Officers'' Association (the association represents the constabulary too) state president, head constable B Mahaboob Saheb, the current proposal for constable-ASI promotions would undo much of the damage. "The proposal is revolutionary and would enhance the morale of the constabulary. I hope the government implements this proposal," he added.