KP police notify payment of polio allowance through bank accounts

PESHAWAR: Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohammad Naeem Khan has directed officials to replace the system of payment to the policemen performing polio duty from crossed cheques to direct credit system to the bank accounts.

The IGP issued the notification on September 4, directing all the officers concerned to ensure that the cops performing security duty during polio vaccination campaigns get their allowance through their bank accounts.

“To make the disbursement of polio budget more transparent, the IGP has under the powers conferred upon him under Section 18 of the KP Police Act 2017 has directed to replace the crossed cheque system with direct credit system.

Bank branch-wise lists of each scheduled bank having salaried accounts of the police personnel deployed for polio duty should be prepared with details of the allowance admissible per diem and the total number of dates of duty,” said a notification issued by the Central Police Office.

The notification added that the bank branch lists shall be prepared separately for upper and lower subordinates.

The lists shall be prepared by the respective line officer, orderly ASI and checked by the accountant who shall check and certify entry with the assistance of the line officer, said the notification.

“The principles of checking of pay bills given in Police Rules shall apply mutatis-mutandis to the responsibility for the correct preparation of the acquaintance rolls/standing instructions to the relevant bank and the singing of the standing instructions,” said the notification.

It added that the DIG finance may, if he feels the need, solicit relevant information from the office of KP Polio Coordinator.

“We have developed a new system so that everybody gets their polio allowance directly through their salaried accounts

and nobody has any complaint of not getting their payment,” IGP Mohammad Naeem said.

There were several complaints that the polio duty allowance for the policemen involved in providing security to the vaccination teams was not provided to them. Many of their videos in which policemen complained also went viral on social media in recent months.

There were complaints against the officers about misuse of the funds. Hence, the new police set-up decided to change the mechanism to stop the misuse of the allowance and the cops get it directly through their bank accounts.

“The polio funds received by each district police officer will be credited through the banking channels to the individual salaried account of each police officer, constable and above, of the force who have performed the polio duty,” the IGP said.

He hoped this mechanism would ensure transparency and ruled out any chance of wrongdoing, including misappropriation.