Yogi stays termination of 25,000 Home Guards

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The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh has decided not to terminate the services of 25,000 Home Guards in the state.

A government order issued on Thursday states that the Home Guards will remain on duty until further orders.

The Adityanath government had already taken a u-turn on the issue last week when the state Home Guard Minister Chetan Chauhan said that they would not lose their jobs.

The state government had on October 12 said that the Home Guards would be off-duty due to financial constraints.

In the order issued on Thursday, Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Avanish Awasthi said that the salaries of the Home Guards would be paid from the home department budget. He said that their deployment was needed in view of the ongoing festive season.

Awasthi's letter addressed to Principal Secretary Home Guard cites the July 30 Supreme Court order and the subsequent high level meetings of the state Home Department of September 26 and 27 to deal with the fall out.

"In view of the coming festival season it has been decided that the present arrangement of Home Guards would continue on the basis of the Home Department budget," it said.

There are 1.18 lakh Home Guard posts in Uttar Pradesh, of which 19,000 are lying vacant.

Last year, the Department of Home had appointed 25,000 Home Guards in place of police whose services had been first terminated and was now continuing till further orders.

Till now, a Home Guard was being paid at the rate of Rs 500 per day which after the Supreme Court decision had increased to Rs 672 per day. Home Guards do not have any fixed monthly salary and are paid on the basis of number of days of duty.

However, the celebrations were short-lived as the state government had expressed its inability to pay the approximate one lakh Home Guards at the revised rate maintaining that the districts do not have such funds.

Besides the festive season Uttar Pradesh is gearing up for maintaining peace after the pronouncement of the Ayodhya judgement.

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