Opposition walks out over Kerala govt’s inaction on police suicides

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Opposition walked out of the assembly on Monday in protest against the government’s refusal to address the acute staff shortage in the police department, which it said, caused physical and mental stress among policemen, driving many of them to suicide.

Congress MLA P C Vishnunadh, who moved the notice to discuss the matter through an adjournment motion, said 88 Kerala police personnel ended their life in the past five years due to immense workload and stress.

“The government’s reluctance to recruit adequate number of police personnel, thereby imposing a huge workload on policemen, is a state-sponsored atrocity and a human rights violation,” the MLA said.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan listed the government’s initiatives to reduce the workload and stress of policemen. He said the government created 5,670 new posts in the force till March 3.

Admitting that the ‘eight-hour duty’ plan could not be fully implemented in all police stations, Pinarayi said the government intends to expand it to all stations soon, he said. Leader of Opposition V D Satheesan accused the CM of trying to ‘trivialise’ a serious issue. He said the state police chief issued a circular last December suggesting measures to reduce the stress on policemen, but none of the directives was implemented.

Thiruvananthapuram: The Centre has approved the notification of 66 of the 175 grama panchayats in the state as ‘Legally Designated Urban Area’ to bring them under the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ)-II zone with lesser restrictions, CM Pinarayi Vijayan said on Monday. He also said the state government will continue with efforts to notify the remaining panchayats also under CRZ- II zone.