IPS officers in city to get accommodation in star hotels
An MoU being signed in the presence of City Police Commissioner Shankhabrata Bagchi in Visakhapatnam
Visakhapatnam: Visakhapatnam is the most favoured destination to host national as well as international events.
For an army of IPS officers who arrive in the city to render their service during various events, getting an accommodation has become a challenging task.
Currently, the IPS officers are putting up at Sunrise Guesthouse (police officers’ mess) that includes about 16 rooms. But during major events, the capacity of the police officers’ mess fails to cater to the number of IPS officers deployed for the purpose.
To place a check on this issue, Visakhapatnam City Police Commissioner Shankhabrata Bagchi came up with a workable plan.
As part of it, he held discussions with the representatives of star hotel managements and associations. The CP made a proposal that the TA/DA bills paid by the government to the IPS officers will be used to settle hotel bills if they get an accommodation in a star hotel during their visit.
In the meantime, a number of star hotels came forward to accept the proposal. For the first time in Andhra Pradesh, a memorandum of understanding was signed between the Visakhapatnam city police and star hotels association in the presence of Director General of Police Harish Kumar Gupta and City Commissioner of Police Shankhabrata Bagchi.
Based on the recommendations of the 7th Pay Commission, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) enforced a new pay matrix system for the IPS officers.
According to this pay scale and depending on the category, the hospitality arrangements of the IPS officers will be provided by the designated hotels in Visakhapatnam city.
Sharing details of the pact, the City Commissioner of Police Shankhabrata Bagchi said, “It is important to provide appropriate food and accommodation to the IPS officers to overcome their work stress and help them stay focused on duty. With the signing of the MoU, the first-of-its-kind initiative has been taken up by the city police.”
The MoU serves as a big relief for the IPS officers as they no longer have to experience accommodation problems in Visakhapatnam as they did in the past.