New Delhi: State governments seeking to use
CRPF personnel for law and order and other operational duties
will have to shell out an additional Rs 1.5 crore per year as
the Centre has enhanced the deployment rate of the force to
almost Rs 29.5 crore for a strength of 1,000 troops.
The Finance ministry in a recent notification has also
enhanced the deployment rate for the blue dungaree anti-riot
wing of the para-military -- Rapid Action Force (RAF) -- and
brought it on the same payment benchmark of Rs 29.40 crore per
battalion (1,000 men) as that of a regular CRPF unit.
According to sources, almost 98 per cent of the 2.70 lakh
personnel-strong force are on deployment at a given time in
various states and insurgency-affected and Naxal-hit areas of
the country.
Calculations bring the cost of one CRPF man`s duties, to
be reimbursed by the state for one day, to around Rs 850. The
personnel, however, are reimbursed by the salary they draw
from the budget earmarked for the force.
The Central government has drastically revised the rates
for Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) as till January this
year, the forces` deployment rate was only 19.11 crore per
battalion per year which was enhanced by almost ten crore to
Rs 28 crore in March and it was again enhanced to Rs 29.40
crore in April.
The current rates will be in force till the next
financial year.
The rates have been revised keeping in mind the increase
in expenditure and addition in salary benefits and other
special emoluments of the troops for serving in difficult
locations, sources said.
The money will be used to build infrastructure and
enhance the quality of life of the CRPF jawans and officers in
the field, they said.
While a regular CRPF battalion has seven companies, an
RAF battalion has four companies with around 100 personnel in
each company.
The new notification is not applicable for the
deployment of the force and the RAF in Union Territories,
Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir and North Eastern states
like Meghalaya, Manipur, Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland,
Mizoram and Sikkim.
PTI
