In a major decision to strengthen manpower for maintaining law and order in the state and also to reduce the burden on Uttar Pradesh Police and Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC), the state government, in a cabinet meeting on Thursday, gave nod for the formation of five battalions of Uttar Pradesh Special Security Force (UPSSF).

The new dedicated force will look after the security of religious establishments, courts and other vital installations along with security of VVIPs.

The initial budget will be allocated to the UPSSF through supplementary grants while the full allocation would be made in the financial year 2021-22.

Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) will be the nodal agency to raise the new dedicated force and the offices of UPSSF would also be in the existing PAC campus.

Being set up on the lines of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the UPSSF will look after the security of religious cities of Ayodhya, Varanasi and Mathura, the Taj Mahal in Agra, the Allahabad High Court and its Lucknow bench along with other districts courts and other vital installations.

The force will also fortify financial institutions, industries, airports, Metro rail and residences of those whom the government has extended special security.

According to the state government circular released on Thursday, similar forces are currently working in Maharashtra and Odisha. The proposal for the constitution of a special force was made on the directions of the Allahabad High Court after incidents of violence were reported on the premises of courts in December last year.

Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Awanish Awasthi told reporters soon after the cabinet cleared the proposal here on Thursday morning that the force would presently be trained at PAC battalions and the tasks would be divided among the battalions.

Awasthi said that recruitment in the new force would be made as per the norms.

“The formation of UPSSF will reduce extra cost incurred on hiring services of other Central security forces and would also relieve the burden on the UP Police and PAC so that they can pay more attention to other law and order duties,” Awasthi told media persons.

He said the government was planning to set up such a force ever since the Metro was flagged off.

“A specialised battalion will guard the courts while another will protect religious cities and Metro rail,” said a senior police official.

It may be mentioned that earlier, the Yogi Adityanath government has set up the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) on the lines of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and it is successfully fighting natural calamities like floods and is also helping in organising big religious events like the last Maha Kumbh.