Financial compensation for martyred cops increased to Rs10 million

The Sindh government has increased financial compensation from Rs5 million to Rs10 million for families of policemen who sacrifice their lives in the line of duty.

The move aims to recongnise the sacrifices of the police force, which together with the paramilitary Rangers, has helped improve law and order in Sindh, especially in Karachi where heinous crimes have decreased significantly.

Though affected families appreciate efforts made by the provincial government to reach out to them, they have been demanding that the facilitation process should be simplified. A letter, issued by the home department on Friday and headed ‘Enhancement in financial commendation for the families of martyred/shaheed and injured police officers and officials’, mentions a summary duly approved by Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah for increasing the financial compensation for the families of martyred and injured police officers, as well as financial compensation for the families of police officers who die in road accidents in the line of duty.

According to the summary, the family of a martyred policeman will get Rs10 million in compensation, Rs500,000 to Rs1 million will be paid in caseof permanent incapacity, and Rs500,000 in case of temporary incapacity. If an on-duty cop dies in a road accident, Rs1 million will be given to the family.

The letter has requested that a formal notification should be issued in this regard. In 2016, the provincial government had increased the compensation money from Rs2 million to Rs5 million.

The finance department modified the May 28, 2009, order with the approval of the chief minister to enhance the compensation money, irrespective of grade, for affected families of police personnel martyred or incapacitated in encounters, bomb blasts, riots, watch and ward duties or terrorist activities, excluding road accidents, with effect from June 1, 2016.

Compensation money for the family of martyred police officer was from Rs2,000,000 with a plot to Rs5,000,000 and one plot, plus one appointment (i.e. appointment of one son/daughter/widow of the martred cop against any post from BS-1 to BS-15 in the police department without observing the prescribed formalities).

In case of permanent incapacity, an amount of Rs500,000 was to be paid, in case of temporary incapacity the amount ranged from Rs50,000 to Rs200,000 depending upon the gravity of injury.

The modalities for allotment of the plot to the family of the martyred cop would be notified separately either by the Police Welfare Fund or the Board of Revenue, Sindh. Claims of such incidents that occurred prior to June 1, 2016, were not to be entertained.

Official sources said the procedure was so difficult that it took a minimum five to six months to complete, and in some case the process used to last more than a year. The process of the payment of compensation money to the family of the martyred official after the funeral was also cumbersome.

The family first had to collect the a copy of the FIR from the police station where the killing took place, then they had to collect the death certificate from the district or union council office, and afterwards they also had to get the heir-ship certificate from the district commissioner’s office. Later, the family was required to submit all the documents at the police station, from where a letter was moved to the deputy superintendent of police (DSP), then to the superintendent of police (SP) and the senior superintendent of police (SSP) before it was moved to the deputy inspector general office and the additional inspector general of police.

The additional IGP office would then approve the case and send it to the assistant inspector general (AIG) Welfare for the grant of the compensation money. Affected families have suggested that the government should devise a policy so that they could get the compensation money through a one-window operation.