Rachna Khaira
Tribune News Service
Jalandhar, January 30
Sportspersons employed by Punjab Police have won many battles at the international level over the years, but they seem to be losing them all back home.
Three international players employed with Punjab Police have given consistent performances since 2013, but their efforts to get the ‘flaws’ removed from the department’s sports policy, in order to be promoted, have yielded no results. After taking over in February this year, the Congress-led government had announced that it would formulate a new sports policy, but its draft is gathering dust with the Home Department since then. Ironically, even this proposed policy did not hold out much hope for the sportspersons already employed with various state government departments.
International medals
Head Constable Gurpreet Singh, 35, won gold with the Indian kabaddi team at the 2014 Asian Games. However, he is forced to work as an assistant sub-inspector with the department.
Rajwinder Kaur, a judoka employed by Punjab Armed Police (PAP), won a bronze medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. She’s been hoping to be appointed a DSP, but she was refused promotion due to the “non-availability” of a vacant DSP’s post and was appointed a sub-inspector last year.
Another judoka, Navjot Chana, a silver medallist at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, was denied promotion to DSP and was instead appointed a sub-inspector.
‘Step-motherly attitude’
“The state government specially created a DSP post for cricketer Harmanpreet Kaur, though she has a contract with Indian Railways,” said Rajwinder. “But the government refused to grant us the same post many times, citing non-availability of a vacancy in the last four years.”
Points issue
The 2013 sports policy awarded 30 points for participation in the Commonwealth Games, 40 for participation in a World Cup, and 50 for participation in the Olympics. The flaw is that no further points are awarded for winning medals at these prestigious events!
Another glaring flaw: A sportsperson who has accumulated 625 points is entitled to the rank of DSP in Punjab Police. However, Chana, who had around 1400 points, had to surrender all those points for a single promotion, from head constable to assistant sub-inspector!
More flaws
According to Head Constable Kuljinder Singh, assistant coach (judo), there is no provision of retaining sports vacancies in Punjab Police. “In the absence of a well-defined sports policy, sportspersons did not get promotions from 2002 to 2013. This caused a huge backlog of delayed promotions for those who accumulated points during this time. But things became worse after the formulation of the sports policy in 2013, because the post of DSP was offered only for new recruitments. Those already serving in the department were offered nothing.”
Hockey fixation
The players have raised concerns over the Home Department focussing on hockey and ignoring other sports. Six hockey players who won gold at the 2014 Asian Games were appointed as DSPs. “Medal-winners at the Commonwealth Games, held before the Asian Games, were left out!” says a non-hockey sportsperson. “The six hockey players were recruited by the state despite the fact that all of them were already working with reputed companies like ONGC, BSF or nationalised banks,” said a player on the condition of anonymity. “We, however, had opted for Punjab Police at the peak of our career. Yet we have been waiting for promotion for so long.”
Ambiguity
Assistant DGP Kuldip Singh (PAP) said that the department has written to the Home Department regarding the ambiguities in the sports policy. He also said that the names of Gurpreet, Rajwinder and Chana have been recommended for promotion to DSP. “We’re waiting for the new sports policy to get enforced,” said Kuldip Singh said.
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