MP Government Implements Compulsory Weekly Offs For Policemen; Many See First Such Holiday In Decades

Implementing a promise made in its election manifesto, Madhya Pradesh’s Congress government has initiated the practice of giving compulsory weekly off days to police personnel, giving the first such holiday on Thursday (3 January 2019), reports TOI.

Earlier, MP cops were not entitled a weekly off day but could avail of holidays through the mechanisms of casual and earned leaves.

“It feels awesome. I stayed with my family and even tried to finish as much pending work as I could. It’s the same feeling you get when you take a first vacation. I joined the force in 1981 and this is the first time that I got a weekly off,” stated Sub-Inspector Uma Shankar Mishra, who received her first weekly off in a career spanning 38 years.

Another police official, Assistant Sub-Inspector Rakesh Sharma stated that even his children took leave from school on that day, and the whole family visited their ancestral home in Narsinghgarh. He expressed satisfaction with the move, stating that he felt relaxed after a long period as earlier policemen would usually be away from home at work between 10 am and midnight.

Other police personnel were also happy with the move, lamenting how they had never before received a weekly off day during their service. A total of 425 cops from different police stations of Madhya Pradesh were given the compulsory holiday on Thursday.