Patna, Oct 7 (IANS): Escalating its agitation for pay raise and other demands, the Bihar Policemen's Association (BPA) Sunday launched a signature campaign for over 65,000 constables to go on five days' mass leave from Oct 10.

The BPA is demanding grade pay of Rs.2,000 at par with other states, appointment of a havaldar over every four constables and an assistant sub-inspector over 12 constables.

"We are providing forms to all police constables across the state for their signature in support of mass leave," BPA president Jitendra Kumar Singh said.

The association threatened mass leave by the constabulary after talks between the state government and the BPA failed last week.

Singh told IANS that the association is still hopeful that the state police headquarters will meet its demands. "If the police headquarters come forward Monday to fulfill our demands, we will not go on mass leave," he said.

He said policemen would not join duty during the mass leave if their demands were not met.

In the first phase of protests Sep 10, the constables wore black badges on duty. They staged a sit-in during duty hours Sep 18 followed by two mass hunger strikes Sep 26-28 and Oct 3-5.