Central forces to get 50 UAVs for surveillance: Rajnath Singh

Neemuch: Government has sanctioned procurement of 50 Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) for central armed police forces like CRPF and BSF, besides deciding to grant some special duty allowances to the troops of these forces deployed in hard duty areas.

The announcement was made today by Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who officiated as the chief guest during the 76th Raising Day celebrations of country's largest paramilitary -- Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)-- at its birthplace here.

Singh said his ministry has approved purchase of 50 UAVs for enhancing and aiding the operations of central paramilitary forces which are deployed in the country for rendering a variety of internal security duties, anti-Naxal operations and border guarding tasks.

"CRPF will also get some of the UAVs from this (procurement)," he said.

UAVs are used for stealth reconnaissance of the unseen territory and these flying machines provide a vital edge for troops on ground during operations.

The Home Minister added that apart from modernisation of these forces by way of giving them new arms and gadgets, his department is working to ensure enhanced "risk allowance" and "detachment allowance" to the jawans and officers of the force.

"We are trying to make these forces better and effective. I am putting all my efforts into this area. However, I don't want to go into details... We are talking to the Finance Ministry (for funds) on this," he said.

He praised the CRPF, the lead national anti-Naxal operations force, for bringing Maoist violence incidents down by 30 per cent.

Singh added that government had recently notified rules which categorised the treatment period as "on duty" for a troop who gets injured in operations.

"I was told a constable has to spend a long time in the same rank as there is no promotion avenue for him. This should end and we are working to streamline this issue," he said, adding that the Ministry has begun "effective work" to undertake the cadre review of these forces like BSF, CISF, ITBP, SSB and NSG.

He said that a total of 13,860 CRPF constables have been recently promoted to the next higher rank of Head Constable after the Home Ministry recently notified and approved a proposal in this regard.

The Home Minister reiterated that he would want to visit all hard locations of CRPF in Left Wing Extremism-hit areas.

Funds of about Rs 564 crore, he said, have been given to these forces for undertaking modernisation works in their respective forces.