Air courier services for the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) are encountering difficulties, with jawans complaining about the unavailability of seats on crucial routes, including Delhi-J&K.
In a recent meeting chaired by DG CRPF Anish Dayal, the issue was raised alongside other concerns regarding air courier services on various routes.
According to the discussions, officials lamented the lack of seats due to limited capacity on the Srinagar-Jammu-Delhi route. Similarly, it was noted that the Delhi-Kolkata-Aizwal route only offers ACS service on Saturdays, posing constraints for jawans. Moreover, the air courier services from Dibrugarh to Guwahati and then Delhi has stopped, causing inconvenience for jawans commuting from challenging locations, prompting the matter to be escalated to the Ministry of Home Affairs for service resumption.
Officials in the meeting also raised the issue of difficulty in other routes. Officials said that jawans encounter difficulties on the Kolkata-Imphal-Kolkata route due to increased force deployment in Manipur, with suggestions made to expand services from three to five days to accommodate the demand.
A high-ranking official informed News18 that air courier services face challenges due to coordination and financial issues across various locations, affecting not only one force but multiple forces, prompting discussions at the highest levels within the ministry.
The Ministry of Home Affairs had approved the entitlement of air travel on Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Delhi, Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Jammu sectors to all the personnel of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces. The decision immediately benefited approximately eight lakh personnel of the CAPFs in the ranks of Constable, Head Constable and ASI who were otherwise not eligible earlier. This includes journey on duty and journey on leave i.e. while going on leave from Jammu and Kashmir to home and return.
This facility is in addition to the existing air courier services for CAPFs that have been steadily extended in all sectors by the MHA to help the jawans cut down on travel time during their journey to and fro from home on leave.
In Jammu and Kashmir Sector, it may be recalled that Air Courier Service for CAPF jawans was approved for the Jammu-Srinagar-Jammu sector.
Subsequently, the Service was extended to cover 1) Delhi-Jammu, 2) Jammu-Srinagar, 3) Srinagar-Jammu and 4) Jammu-Delhi sector in Dec 2017. The number of flights was further extended in December 2018. In addition, air support is provided from IAF as and when required.
Comments
0 comment