Bilal Handoo
SRINAGAR
The government Tuesday revealed that 23, 591 special police officials (SPOs) are working in 25 districts in Jammu and Kashmir with a monthly honorarium of Rs 3000, while 4112 village defense committees (VDCs) have been constituted in the state without any remuneration.
The government informed the autumn session of Assembly that the working of VDCs [active in Jammu province only] is under the constant review of the government and said, “all possible efforts are being made to improve their working and effectiveness.”
While stating that no VDC has been disbanded so far, the government reply informed that since 2010, 5768 SPOs have been disengaged on various grounds like absence of duty and for other reasons.
The government informed that 270 SPOs and 52 VDC members have “sacrificed” their lives in the militancy related incidents across the state.
In a reply to another question, the government informed that number of SPOs working with VDCs in state stand at 4574. While the number of VDCs without SPOs are 1847 in the state.
“There are 26425 members working with VDCs,” the government reply informed.
