Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Less than 1% of applications for the reimbursement of college fees for police personnel’s children pursuing higher studies have reached the Police Headquarters (PHQ), as field officers have shown little interest in forwarding the applications from their units, said officials on Friday.
According to rough estimates, around 6,000 children of police personnel across the state are enrolled in higher education.
The Police Welfare Department of PHQ runs a scheme that provides financial assistance of Rs 50,000 for children pursuing MBBS, and up to Rs 40,000 or the actual fee (whichever is less) for other courses, including engineering.
The department has written to all 119 field units asking them to apply for fee reimbursement for the year 2024-25. However, only 49 units have submitted 474 applications so far, while the rest have not responded. Not a single application for fee reimbursement has come from 70 units. Similar casual attitude of field units had come to the fore in 2023-24 when only 2,337 applications had reached the office.
The calculations
Around 20 years ago, the total strength of the police force was 85,000. Based on population projections, around 6,000 applications , i.e. around 5%, from the children of police personnel pursuing higher education should have been submitted to the PHQ.
The instructions
PHQ has instructed field officers to spread awareness about the financial assistance scheme among police personnel. Officers are directed to reach out to every unit like police stations, police post, companies, and other sections to ensure that maximum benefit of the scheme is availed.
DGP to review the reports
ADG (Welfare) Anil Kumar has informed that all units must send proposals by May 15. If a unit head fails to submit applications by the deadline, they must provide an explanation for the delay. After June 30, all IGs will submit an assessment report for their zones, which will be reviewed by the DGP.
