Maharashtra: Women cops to now have 8-hour duty instead of 12 for 'work-life balance'

In a significant move, the Maharashtra police has reduced the working hours of women police personnel from 12 hours to eight hours. The new shorter working day for women personnel will be implemented on an experimental basis, an order issued by the state Director General of Police (DGP) Sanjay Pandey said. Normally, both male and female personnel have 12 hours' duty.

The eight-hour duty for women will be in force until further orders, said the DGP's directive, issued on Thursday. Unit commanders have been directed to ensure that the order is implemented. A senior official said the step has been taken to provide better work-life balance to women officials.

In case of emergency or during festivals, the duty hours of women personnel may be increased, but only with the permission of respective district Superintendents of Police or Deputy Commissioners of Police.

Earlier, eight-hour shifts have successfully implemented in Nagpur, Amravati, Pune Rural, and most recently in Navi Mumbai.

Back in September 2020, Maharashtra DGP Sanjay Pandey had informed that the decision to reduce working hours of the women police force was taken by the state government. As per reports, several women police constables had written to the DGP stating that their duty hours are often extended past the specified 12 hours, which impacts their family affairs.

After consulting with senior officials, Pandey issued a notice to the City Commissioners and the district police to avoid assigning night patrolling duty or other stressful work to the lower rank officers. The DGP said his office had learned that officers and constables were being assigned night patrolling or 24-hour duty, a day before the weekly off.

(With inputs from agency)