New Delhi, May 10: Many CRPF personnel either fell to
bullets or became prey to deadly diseases while waiting for
more than 20 years for a peace posting.
Giving an insight into the plight of the CRPF personnel,
an internal report of the largest paramilitary disclosed that
over 80 percent personnel were not able to get peace posting
even after 20 years of strenuous service.
Moreover, 75 percent of the over 2.5 lakh CRPF
personnel`s service period is spent in continuous deployment,
with 92 Gazetted Officers not being able to keep their family
with them for 20 years, according to the report.
The officials were posted for over 20 years continuously
in fields but could not get peaceful static posting in their
35 years average service length, it said.
Sources said the over-stretched deployment of the force,
which has the mandate of maintaining internal security, has
led to a situation in which nearly 50 percent personnel are
suffering from various ailments like skin diseases, depression
hypertension, heart and psychiatric problems among others.
Official statistics pointed out that since 1946, the
total sacrifices by the force`s personnel till April this year
was 1,659. But between 2005-08, CRPF lost 1,425 soldiers
from various diseases, including cancer.
Bureau Report
