Eight hours work shift for women police personnel in Maharashtra

The director-general of police (DGP) of Maharashtra Sanjay Pandey on Friday said that the women police personnel in the state will no longer have to work for more than eight hours. Their work shifts would be of only eight hours. At present, the plan is already in effect in cities like Nagpur, Pune, Amravati and Navi Mumbai and now it would be extended in the entire state, he said.

The director-general of police (DGP) of Maharashtra Sanjay Pandey on Friday said that the women police personnel in the state will no longer have to work for more than eight hours. Their work shifts would be of only eight hours. At present, the plan is already in effect in cities like Nagpur, Pune, Amravati and Navi Mumbai and now it would be extended in the entire state, he said.

DGP of Maharashtra Sanjay Pandey said that the women police personnel in the state will no longer have to work for more than eight hours. (HT PHOTO)

The move intends to reduce work stress on the women cops, who along with doing professional duties also have the burden of family responsibilities.

According to police sources, the DGP office had received many complaints from women police personnel from across the state informing the top administration that their personal life was being adversely affected as they were on duty, longer than their shift hours. Previously, like others, the women cops were doing 12-hours shifts.

Taking cognisance of the issue, the top cop first implemented the new working hour set-up for women in four cities as a pilot. After it received a good response, the top administration has now directed all the district police superintendents, commissioners and other unit commanders to start implementing the new order.

The police department plans to implement the new order across the state in a month’s period, an officer said.

Commenting on the development National Congress Party leader and MP Supriya Sule tweeted, “The Maharashtra government has decided to reduce the working hours of women police officers from 12 hours to 8 hours a day. This is a good initiative by the state government as this will help to have better balance between family and the duties of women officers.” Sule, added, “I thank chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and home minister Dilip Walse-Patil for taking this decision.”

The decision is being welcomed by the female police personnel as it has come at a time when the festival season has just started in the state. During festive season due to regular bandobasts, nakabandi, preventive action drives and other duties, the workload is very high on cops and especially women cops find it difficult to make a balance between professional and family responsibilities.

Earlier, former Mumbai police commissioner Datta Padsalgikar had also implemented 8-hours duty for constables, in Mumbai.