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ADG UP112 transferred amid women workers’ stir
Additional director general (ADG) of UP Emergency Integrated Response Services (UP112) headquarters Ashok Kumar Singh was on Wednesday transferred out of his post and attached to the police headquarters till further orders as women contractual workers of the UP112 continued their protest outside its headquarters in Lucknow’s Arjunganj on Tuesday to press for a salary hike.
Additional director general (ADG) of UP Emergency Integrated Response Services (UP112) headquarters Ashok Kumar Singh was on Wednesday transferred out of his post and attached to the police headquarters till further orders as women contractual workers of the UP112 continued their protest outside its headquarters in Lucknow’s Arjunganj on Tuesday to press for a salary hike.
Singh, a 1995-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) officer, has been replaced by 1992-batch officer Neera Rawat, who was so far posted as ADG administration at the police headquarters.
Besides, 1988-batch IPS officer Anand Kumar has been made director general (DG) Crime Bureau- Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID). He was earlier posted as DG Cooperative Cell and was in waiting since the cooperative cell was merged with the CB-CID. The additional charge of CB-CID was with the incumbent director general of police (DGP) Vijaya Kumar till now.
Earlier on Tuesday, the police forcibly removed several women workers who were allegedly blocking traffic on the main road on Shaheed Path near UP112 headquarters.
The protestors were put into a police bus and then sent to the protest site at Rama Bai Ambedkar ground where they continued their agitation for the entire night.
Reacting to the police action, former chief minister and Samajwadi Party president Akhilesh Yadav took to X, sharing a picture of a letter he received from the protesting workers.
In his first post, he hit out at the government, saying, “... Even before meeting the CM, the sisters and daughters who sat in the cold all night and made their demands were taken into custody in the morning. The true form of BJP’s worship of women is ‘Nari Bandhan’ (an apparent pun on Nari Shakti Vandan Bill).”
Uttar Pradesh Congress president Ajay Rai penned a letter to chief minister Yogi Adityanath, referring to the demands of the protesting workers. Prior to his letter to the chief minister, Rai met the UP112 protesting women communication officers.
Speaking on the issue, a protesting woman said, “We have been sacked without any notice as we were not listening to their demands.”
The protesters sat outside all through the night with several of them using their mobile torches after streetlights were allegedly switched off.
The protesting workers, who are communication specialists at UP 112, are expressing their frustration over potential job losses due to changing outsourcing companies.
The protest persisted even after ADG UP 112 Ashok Kumar Singh assured the protestors that their jobs would not be lost.
