Village cops in Lalmonirhat have bemoaned the low wages that they and their families have to live on, saying such an income is “not up to par” and unbefitting to individuals who are keeping villages out of harm’s way.
Because of inadequate income and often without other means to supplement it by, these people have to live a life of hardship and misery.
Sources said, a village cop gets a consolidated amount of Tk1,900 per month. 50% of the money comes from government and 50% from the respective union parishad offices.
There are a total of 458 village cops at 45 unions of the five upazilas of Lalmonirhat. People with low socioeconomic status usually join the village protection force.
On various occasions in the past, they urged the government to double their salary, given the rising living costs and food inflation in the country.
In 2010, LGRD and Co-operatives Minister Syed Ashraful Islam had reportedly made an announcement of doubling their salary, but no follow-up measures were heard of.
Abdus Salam, a village cop at Harati union, said, ”We the village cops patrol at night so that villagers can sleep peacefully and also work as peons at UP office. We have no leisure time and sometimes we don’t get chance to sleep. Why are we so poorly paid then?”
Another village cop Badol Miah, at Mogholhat union, said, ”Because we aren’t paid enough, we can’t send our children to school, can’t give them three meals a day and can’t fulfil various other needs. Many of us are heavily in debt.”
It has been learnt that village cops are provided with no perks or extra facilities that usually come with a job, and no rations of any kind either.
Nagendra Nath, at Chkalarhat union under Kaliganj upazila, was in tears when he said: “I have two grown-up daughters at home. For the last three years, I have been trying to marry them off but failed to do so because of money. I have been a village cop for 25 years now and I don’t have a single penny in my savings. What can I do now?”
The president of Lalmonirhat Village Cops Karmochari Union, Mominul Islam Momin, said, though often neglected, village cops have important contributions in society.
“They help control law and order, catch robbers, thieves, gamblers, fugitives and criminals and thwart all possible security breaches; they collect taxes, patrol at night and even work as peons at UP offices.”
“We have long been demanding to improve our wage structure to a minimum standard, but the government hasn’t yet taken any initiative in this regard,” he said.
Maniruzzaman Manir, an adviser of the association, said the scenario of village cops in Lalmonirhat is the same as elsewhere in the country. With an improved pay structure, they can all live a normal life.
“The present government has declared village cop’s wage scale as the fourth in the national wage guideline in 2011, but it hasn’t been implemented yet,” he said.