By: Ibni Maqbool
Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir government has announced special security allowance for the Special Operation Group and the Bomb Disposal Squads of Jammu & Kashmir Police.
In an order, a copy of which is with The Precious Kashmir, the UT’s Home department ordered that SOG and BDS would now be entitled to get special security allowance.
The order states that combatants (operational staff) would get 25 % of basic pay as Special Security Allowance (SSA) and non-combatants (non-operational) 12.5% of basic pay as SSA.
The Home department also ordered that hardship allowance of SOG and BDS shall be same as that paid to all the police personnel.
It is worthwhile to mention here that the Jammu and Kashmir government had increased the hardship allowance of police personnel by two per cent of their basic pay in 2019.
In August 2019, the state administrative council (SAC), which met under the chairmanship of then Governor Satya Pal Malik, increased hardship allowance of police personnel from eight per cent to 10 per cent.
The SAC had also approved increase in hardship allowance for SOG and BDS personnel from 10 percent to 12 percent.
The Special Operations Group is the elite anti-militancy wing of Jammu and Kashmir Police. It was raised with the idea of involving Jammu & Kashmir Police in the anti-militancy activities and giving a local face to these operations.
The Bomb Disposal Squads is trained to detect and dispose of explosives.
In January this year, 2288 SOG personnel and 179 BDS personnel were notified as classified category of J&K Police.
