Andhra Pradesh becomes first in India to give weekly breather to cops

VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh police department has become the first in the country to give weekly offs to its personnel. From Wednesday itself, all personnel from constable to inspector ranks will start getting offs. Director general of police (DGP) Gautam Sawang ordered this after a meeting with the committee constituted to formulate guidelines on weekly offs. This comes in spite of the fact that the police department is facing a severe staff crunch. There is about 20% staff shortage in the department.

The committee, headed by additional director general of police Ravishankar Ayyannar, gave its report with 19 alternative plans that will fit various units like intelligence, CID, SPF and greyhounds. The unit heads can choose any plan depending upon their convenience, said Ayyannar. While some states have earlier tried to implement weekly offs, they have been limited to pilot projects only.
With implementation of weekly offs, cumulative staff crunch in the department will be 30 per cent as one-seventh of the staff will be off duties.
Ayyannar went on to say that an IT dashboard will be created to monitor the weekly offs in all districts and special units from the DGP’s office. The system will be reviewed after a month to deal with the problems that arise in implementation.
Police officers’ associations across the state welcomed the decision. Srinivasa Rao, president of Andhra Pradesh police officers’ association thanked chief minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy and the DGP for implementing the weekly offs. He said that they have been waiting for this for two decades.
Jaganmohan Reddy had made weekly offs to police personnel a part of his election promises.