Union Home Ministry has sanctioned air courier facility for CRPF personnel deployed in anti-Naxal operations in Chhattisgarh. Jawans will now be able to cut down travel time during leave as they will be able to fly to and fro in BSF Avro aircraft to Delhi and from remote Jagdalpur to State capital Raipur.
The Air Courier service of BSF Air Wing was started on June 27 on a weekly basis through the 30-seater Avro aircraft. The CRPF Directorate has directed the officials of the Northern/Chhattisgarh sector to circulate the name and contact numbers of the nodal officers for Delhi, Raipur and Jagdalpur for smooth functioning of the newly-launched facility.
The Jagdalpur-bound flight from Delhi will be undertaken every morning at 8 am on Friday and the route will be Delhi-Raipur-Jagdalpur-Raipur. The Delhi-bound flight will originate from Raipur via Jagdalpur as AM every Saturday. The route covered by this flight will be Raipur-Jagdalpur-Bhopal(refueling)-Delhi.
Out of the available 30 seats, 15 are earmarked for the CRPF personnel and seven for BSF troops and the remaining will be used by members of other agencies, sources said.
With this initiative, a long-pending demand for such a facility has been started but officials said one flight every week is insufficient and should be gradually increased to operate on a daily basis.
About 23 battalions of the CRPF are deployed in Jagdalpur alone, a heavily-affected Naxal district. “On an average, 25 pople per battalion avail leave on a daily basis and one flight in a week with limited seating capacity is not enough. We must recognise that the service has at least been started even as there is a need to increase the number of flights in order to benefit maximum number of the paramilitary personnel deployed in the hard areas like Jagdalpur,” an official said.
Travel from Raipur to Delhi via train takes more than 48 hours. Reaching Raipur from Jagdalpur takes about 8-10 hours. Almost three days are wasted in traveling from Jagdlarpur to Delhi. Another day is spent by those who need to travel further to States like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
Almost a week is spent by a trooper on travel when he avails leave. Insiders said similar facility is required for troops deployed in Sukma and Bastar regions of the State and the flight should cater to the needs of personnel who hail from the Southern States. Officials said the airstrip in Jagdalpur city is capable for landing Avro aircraft. The airstrip is being secured by the State police and it does not face any threat from the Naxals as the city is largely considered to be safe from the ultras.