ISLAMABAD: Though the basic pay scale of the three lower ranks of the capital police were upgraded last year, most of the officials are still waiting to get a raise in their salaries.

Talking to Dawn on Friday, some police officials said that the process of increasing salaries was ongoing but at a slow pace.

They said that if the process is to go on at the same pace, it might be another two to three years till all the officials in thelower three ranks are given increased salaries according to their upgraded BPS.

In November last year, the ranks of constable, head constable and assistant sub-inspector (ASI) were upgraded from BPS 5, 7 and 9 to 7, 9 and 11 respectively.

The capital police currently employ 7,887 constables, 1,498 head constables and 1,117 ASIs.

Four months after their BPS was up graded, only 1,500 of 10,500 officials were paid increased salaries, the officials said.

The capital police also raised the issue with the Accountant General Pakistan Revenue(AGPR) last month but nothing has so far been done in this regard, the officials said.

The issue was also highlighted in a letter sent from the office of the senior superintendent of police to the deputy accountant general.

“Your attention is required towards the meeting held in your good office on January 6, 2017.

It was decided that a team of AGPR Islamabad shall visit Police Lines Headquarters Islamabad for fixation of service books in respect of newly upgraded posts of around 11,000 officials of ICT police Islamabad and this execution shall be completed in three to four months,” the letter reads.

“However, it is pertinent to mention here that a team from AGPR Islamabad has started this process w.e.f 09.01.2017 and so far fixation of only 357 Nos of service books has been completed @20 service books per working day,” it goes on, saying that at the current rate, the process of fixation may take around two years to complete.

The police officials said the AGPR team verifies service books of the officials whose BPS grade was upgraded after which they get the increased pay and privileges.

When contacted, a senior police official said a number of letters were written to the AGPR due to the slow process.

“They only have four officials to deal with the verification of the service

books of the officials of Islamabad,” he said.

However, the senior official said that only one AGPR officer, and at times two, work at the Police Headquarters on the matter and usually have police staff to assist.

He said the delay was also because this was the first time the service books were being verified since the establishment of the capital police.

Published in Dawn, March 18th, 2017