Summary moved to increase ICT Police salaries

Islamabad : Ministry of Interior on Friday sent a recommendation to the Finance Division to revise salary structure for the Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Police on the lines of the Punjab Police to remove the disparity between the two forces.

It was a long time ago when the salaries of the ICT Police were revised upward but in parts. It may be mentioned that the salaries of the Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) were substantially increased when the Traffic Police in Islamabad was transformed into ‘Model Traffic Police’ under the leadership of the then SSP Zubair Hashmi and Dr, Sultan Azam Temuri.

The recommendations sent by the Interior Ministry indicated that because of the low salaries of the ICT Police the competent officers of the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) are mostly reluctant to accept a position in the federal capital.

On the other hand, it is hard to retain the ICT Police employees because they are always looking for better opportunities and abandon the force at the first available opportunity.

The Interior Ministry recommendations pointed out that as the recruitments in the ICT Police are done on a quota basis from all over Pakistan, most of them are serving far away from their home towns because of which they face multiple financial problems like finding accommodations, travelling, and various other issues.

The Interior Ministry has recommended to the Finance Division to raise the salaries of the ICT Police officers and officials and bring those at par with the salaries of the Punjab Police and Federal Investigation Agency (FIA).

“In the backdrop of the National Action Plan (NAP), Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) being a hub of political, economic, and commercial activities, is extremely vulnerable to sabotage activities. The ICT police play a primary role to maintain law and order, therefore, the lives of its employees remain exposed to high-risk incidents on a daily basis as they have to face police encounters and rioting mob activities during the discharge of official obligations. There is a significant disparity in the pay package of ICT Police in comparison to the Punjab Police and Federal Investigation (FIA). The members of the ICT Police are recruited from all over the country on a quota basis resulting in a high cost of living, especially, for out-of-city residents. Because of low pay packages, the employees of ICT Police are constantly in search of higher pay jobs making it difficult to retain highly qualified staff. Moreover, this low salary package in comparison to other law enforcement departments makes the force vulnerable to indulging in corruption practices. Owing to these reasons, the officers from other provinces are usually unwilling to serve in ICT Police.”

The Ministry of Interior, in its summary sent to the Ministry of Finance, said, “The ICT Police may also be given the pay package at par with Punjab Police which will boost the morale of officers/officials serving in ICT Police. Proposed revision on the analogy of the Punjab Police, Revision of Ration Allowance; Per annum impact of Rs90,745,920.

Fixed Daily Allowance equal to 30-Days of revised rate of 2012. The impact of this will be Rs396,169,200.

Police Law and Order Allowance.

Police Administration Allowance of BS-17 and above @ 1.20 times of basic pay.

The pay structure of all other Provinces along with a comparative analysis is submitted in detail. The ICT Police have clarified that financial implications to the tune of Rs738 million (working strength) involved in the matter will be met from allocated budget for FY-2022-23 and no additional budget will be demanded.