Zhejiang sets up special fund to compensate police
By Han Ronghua (chinadaily.com.cn)
Updated: 2004-09-21 10:12

Zhejiang, an eastern China province, has established a special fund to help families of policemen who died while performing their duties. This is part of the province's strategy in constructing a "safe Zhejiang."

The fund, directly supported by the provincial finance, offers a lump sum of 200,000-350,000 yuan (US$25,000-43,000) to comfort the families members of any policeman who die on the post, reportedly the highest amount of compensation among all provinces in China.

This fund started operation on January 1, 2004.

Before this, the Chinese government got a system to comfort and compensate bereaved families, but offered a relatively smaller sum of compensation. Police authorities in many provinces set up new systems of additional compensation for the bereaved families.

In 1993, Guangdong Province led the country in setting up its relieving system, which offered a maximum of 30,0000 yuan (US$37,000) in compensation to families of policemen died on duty. By contrast, the money Zhejiang offers is the highest in China.

The relieving funds in other provinces are usually set up by police departments, but in Zhejiang, the special fund for police compensation is directly provided by the provincial government. New system is carried out in parallel with the state's pension system.

At the same time, police authorities in Zhejiang also increased post allowance from January 1, 2004. The policemen on duty are offered 200 RMB monthly