Cops’ hunger strike call evokes mixed response

The hunger strike by police personnel was not visible in Chennai as the canteen at city Police Commissioner’s office functioned normally. The members of Tamil Nadu Police Constabulary Association claimed that 60 per cent of khaki clad men and women, attached to various Tamil Nadu State Police (TSP) battalions and Armed Reserve (AR) units, refused to have their breakfast and lunch in other parts of the state to show their support.

“There were no takers for food provided in many AR and TSP canteens in southern districts,” claimed a member of the association. A few members of the association had also circulated photographs that showed policemen donating the food provided to them to poor people and animals. 

However, a senior police official dismissed the hunger strike and added it happened only on WhatsApp and Facebook. “It was a virtual hunger strike and not real,” he said countering the claims made by the constabulary association. Their demands included rectification of pay anomalies in the seventh pay commission, weekly off, compensation for extra hours of work, uniform food allowance throughout the state and ban on orderly system.