In its bid to impart corporate character to the paramilitary forces, the Government may replace the iconic steel trunks allotted to every jawan at the time of induction with modern trolley suitcases made of polycarbonate or polypropylene.
The alloy trunks have been the hallmark of the jawans’ identity since the inception of the respective paramilitary forces. Over the decades, the trunks have earned an emotional chord with the jawans and have long served as storage of troops’ valuable items like official correspondences, medals and commendations as also family photographs, etc.
The Union Home Ministry has constituted a committee for authorization of suitcase with trolley. A meeting for formulating the QR (Qualitative Requirement/Specifications for suitcase with trolley held with the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) or paramilitary forces along with the representatives of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Bureau of Police Research And Development (BPR&D) and Northern India Textile Research Association (NITRA).
During the discussions, various points were deliberated like the use of three way locking system, use of materials like polypropylene/polycarbonate, size and capacity, durability, warranty, flexibility, weight of the bag and cost viability vis-s-vis the alloy boxes that are being sought to be replaced.
These trolley bags are already available in the canteen of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)/CAPFs. The stakeholders have been asked to show these trolley bags to their respective personnel (Constable to Subordinate Officers or SOs) who are the actual users of the trunks. The SOs comprise Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) to Subedar Major.
After showing these trolley bags to them and narrating about the benefits as well as drawbacks of each type of trolley bags, their views are also to be taken.
Following the exercise, the matter is expected to be taken up for further discussion for identifying the suitable trolley bags for the jawans.
The old school of thought within the forces still vouch for the traditional trunks to remain as a mainstay of the jawans’ luggage as they are trained to respond to crisis and are even entitled to hefty hardship allowances. The jawans are often mobilized at short notice for deployments in hostile security environments two to three times in a year and often in arduous terrains in the Northeast, Jammu and Kashmir or the Naxal-hit States besides their regular deployments in their respective domains.
An official said the trunks are sturdy in build and can withstand substantial jerk during long travels in force’s trucks even though they do not offer easy mobility by an individual.
“There should be an additional authorization of such modern trolley bags for carrying light luggage instead of replacing the steel trunks completely which have become synonymous with the troops' paraphernalia like the uniform and the weapons. In any case, the trolley bags are already available in the canteens and the jawans can procure them as a matter of individual choice and any further appeasement of the troops may not help the operational agility of the personnel,” he said.
The trunks typically with black paint bear the name and service number of every jawan painted in white. In the unfortunate cases where a jawan gets martyred in action, the trunks along with the belongings and mortal remains are handed over to the family with due respect.
Another section of the officials is okay with the proposal that seeks to replace the trunks with trolley bags of American Tourister or Samsonite brands.