Gandhinagar, Aug 15 (IANS): Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel on the eve of 75th independence day announced increasing allowances of police personnel for which he has approved additional budget allocations of Rs 550 crore for the current financial year.

For 2022-23, the state government budget allocation for the salaries of police personnel was Rs 6,127 crore, with addition of Rs 550 crore, and now the budget allocation stands at Rs 6,670 crore.

Sharing details about the new salary package for police, Minister of State for Home Harsh Sanghavi on Sunday said in Surat: "Now, Lok Rakshak Dal Jawan's annual salary package will be Rs 3,47,250, Police constables' Rs 4,16,400, Head Constables' annual package would Rs 4,96,394, and Assistant Sub Inspectors' would be Rs 5,84,094."

There are 60,000 police personnel in the state.

Since the last 16 to 17 years, there has been no hike in the pay grade of police personnel.

In October 2021, the police personnel had launched a movement demanding a hike in pay grade.

The state government had appointed a committee to look into the demand. Instead of increasing the basic pay, the state government has decided to increase allowances and hike salaries of police personnel.