Set up old-age homes for police personnel: State Police Chief

Old-age homes should be set up in different parts of the State for retiring police personnel, State Police Chief K.S. Balasubramanian has said.

He was inaugurating the 32nd State conference of the Kerala Police Pensioners’ Welfare Association (KPPWA) here on Sunday.

Mr. Balasubramanian said it was high time people in the service thought about old-age homes so that they could lead a peaceful life in retirement.

“Most of us live in nuclear families. Once the children go away, there should be a place for the old couples to spend the rest of their lives,” he said.

KPPWA president A.K. Venugopal said successive governments had looked the other way whenever the issues of police pensioners were placed before them. “We have raised very limited demands like a health insurance scheme, which was already mentioned in the Police Act; treatment of training period as part of service; and provision of proportionate retirement benefits and pension increment to the pensioners,” he said. The government was yet to take a call on the KPPWA proposal for a reemployment scheme for police pensioners. “We are healthy after retirement and are ready to serve the nation. If given an opportunity to interact with the Student Police Corps, we could share our experiences with them,” Mr. Venugopal said.

Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau Director Vinson M. Paul said such gatherings were necessary to keep the pensioners connected with those who were still service.

Mr. Balasubramanian, set to retire on May 31, said it was deplorable that pregnancy had not been included in the insurance scheme for police personnel, he said.