After 38 deaths in 2 months headless CRPF gets new chief
April 28, 2017 12:19
It took a tragic 25 deaths for the government to act. The Central Reserve Police Force has finally got a new head: Rajiv Rai Bhatnagar took charge as Director General of the countrys largest paramilitary force.
The CRPF has remained headless for over two months. It lost 38 personnel in the line of duty in two major ambushes during the period.
After K Durga Prasads retirement as the last full-time chief of the CRPF on February 28, the Union home ministry had appointed Additional DG Sudeep Lakhtakia to hold the charge in additional capacity.
A senior home ministry official said a panel of eligible IPS officers has already been prepared but there has been no finality on the name of the next DG for the nearly 3-lakh-strong force till now.
While the day-to-day operations and work of CRPF is being conducted, the absence of a regular chief hits when big and important policy decisions are to be taken, the official said.
A senior CRPF official said while the acting CRPF DG and senior Security Advisor in the Home Ministry K Vijay Kumar rushed to the spot and met the troops the very next day, the absence of a regular chief at such crucial moments is felt.
In the first week of April, 168 recruits of the force suffered food poisoning at their camp in Pallipuram in Kerala and had to be hospitalised.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh had taken strong exception of the incident and also convened a meeting of all paramilitary chiefs asking them to keep a check on such instances.
It is always good to have a full-time chief who is empowered to take confident policy decisions. It is surprising to see that the 3-lakh personnel force, which is also the largest paramilitary across the globe, is kept headless and without a regular DG for well about two months, another officer said.
The CRPF is not only the lead anti-Naxal operations force of the country but also heavily deployed for rendering law and order duties in various states in assistance to local police and for conducting anti-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the North East.
The CRPF has remained headless for over two months. It lost 38 personnel in the line of duty in two major ambushes during the period.
After K Durga Prasads retirement as the last full-time chief of the CRPF on February 28, the Union home ministry had appointed Additional DG Sudeep Lakhtakia to hold the charge in additional capacity.
A senior home ministry official said a panel of eligible IPS officers has already been prepared but there has been no finality on the name of the next DG for the nearly 3-lakh-strong force till now.
While the day-to-day operations and work of CRPF is being conducted, the absence of a regular chief hits when big and important policy decisions are to be taken, the official said.
A senior CRPF official said while the acting CRPF DG and senior Security Advisor in the Home Ministry K Vijay Kumar rushed to the spot and met the troops the very next day, the absence of a regular chief at such crucial moments is felt.
In the first week of April, 168 recruits of the force suffered food poisoning at their camp in Pallipuram in Kerala and had to be hospitalised.
Home Minister Rajnath Singh had taken strong exception of the incident and also convened a meeting of all paramilitary chiefs asking them to keep a check on such instances.
It is always good to have a full-time chief who is empowered to take confident policy decisions. It is surprising to see that the 3-lakh personnel force, which is also the largest paramilitary across the globe, is kept headless and without a regular DG for well about two months, another officer said.
The CRPF is not only the lead anti-Naxal operations force of the country but also heavily deployed for rendering law and order duties in various states in assistance to local police and for conducting anti-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the North East.
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