SHILLONG: A meeting between the incumbent Director General (DG) of Assam Rifles (AR) and representatives of Ex-Servicemen of AR took place at the DGAR, here on June 9 and 10. Around 50 representatives of AR ex-servicemen from all over the country attended the meeting, called by the DG, and aired their grievances on various service and retirement issues related to their welfare.
AR is the oldest paramilitary force but strangely the operational matters of the force are under the control of the Union Defence Ministry and its administrative matters are under the Union Home Ministry, a representative of the ex-servicemen said, adding that due to this ‘dual management’ the force is suffering in several spheres.
But matters relating to the welfare of the personnel are addressed neither by the Defence Ministry nor by the Home Ministry.
The representative added, “We are sandwiched in between defence and home.”
During the meeting with the DG, the ex-servicemen’s representative brought to his notice that they are not getting service related benefits including promotion while in service besides various retirement related facilities.
“At present we are getting neither army nor paramilitary benefits. We urge the DG to include us under a single ministry, either defence or home, instead of the present dual ministry control and extend us the service condition and related facilities accordingly.”
The DG gave a patient hearing to the grievances raised by the ex-servicemen representatives and assured to consider them sympathetically and take up their matter with the Union Government.
