Wives of Andhra cops call off protest

Hyderabad, Aug 6 (IANS) The wives of the constables of the Andhra Pradesh Special Police (APSP) Monday called off their protest after the police chief agreed to accept their demands for leave and better working conditions.

Following a meeting with family members of the constables, Director General of Police Dinesh Reddy assured withdrawal of a controversial system under which the cops were being sent to remote areas for duty.

The demands for deploying the constables within 100 km of their respective battalions and three days of leave in a month were also accepted by the DGP. With the police chief's assurance, the wives of the constables withdrew their two-day protest in various APSP battalions across the state.

The police chief also suspended a reserved inspector of eighth battalion at Kondapur near Hyderabad. The officer was responsible for sending constable Phani Kumar to Rampachodavaram in East Godavari district, where he died of health problems after he was allegedly denied leave.

For the last two days, the family members of the constables were staging protests at APSP battalions in Adilabad, Vijayanagaram, Kadapa and other districts, demanding better working conditions.

The protest had triggered tension at Kondapur with some women trying to attack an officer. The protest Sunday had spread to other districts.

APSP Additional Director General Gautam Swang told reporters Monday that the A&B system was introduced to meet the shortage of personnel in some battalions.

"They could not take leave because of shortage of manpower," he explained, while announcing that they would revert to the old system.

Swang said they would reconsider the long deployment of constables in remote areas. He promised to take action on specific complaints of corruption and harassment by officials.