Sarvesh Tripathi, an ex-Assistant Commandant with the Central armed police forces (CRPF), left the organisation after he felt that his growth in the force was stunted. Like Sarvesh, many personnel working with India’s Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) continue to either leave the organisation or suffer in silence. The plight of the jawans doesn’t get the attention it deserves, and most people we spoke to say they are “overworked and underpaid”.
Sarvesh Tripathi, ex-Assistant Commandant with the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) speaks to The Probe’s correspondent Bhaswati Sengupta on the working conditions within CRPF.
According to the latest data shared on the recruitment of CAPF (Central armed police forces), the government has said that a total of 84,866 posts were vacant in the CAPF against the sanctioned 10,05,520 posts. The government has often admitted that because of the vacant posts, existing CAPF personnel are overworked to meet the growing demands of the force. The forces in which a maximum number of posts are lying vacant are the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sahastra Seema Bal (SSB) and the Assam Rifles.
“The number of vacancies is so alarming. As a unit commander, I had to face many challenges. I had to get the prerequisite strength that we needed for operations. That apart, I needed to sanction leaves. How do you do all this when you don’t have enough people in the force? The jawans are overworked and underpaid. They work at least 15 to 16 hours a day every single day. They work like this for seven days a week without leaves. Their working conditions are bad. This is a national security issue and must be immediately addressed,” asserts Tripathi.
Choudhury notes that the vacant posts, lack of basic amenities, and work pressures have drained the forces. He says this has also given rise to the problem of increased cases of suicides within the CAPF. Last year, the government revealed that as many as 657 personnel belonging to the CAPF committed suicide in five years. This February, the government disclosed that the cases of suicides and fratricides had steadily risen in the CAPF. A Task Force appointed by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) noted that the triggers include harassment, humiliation and leave-related concerns.
Shyam Mehrotra, IG of the Eastern Frontier of the ITBP, states that the situation is not alarming as far as the ITBP is concerned. “Every month, we have a Sainik Sabha. We have a system of asking jawans about their issues. For instance, whenever I go for a field formation, we ensure that every jawan is availing leave three times a year,” affirms Mehrotra. Regarding suicides, Mehrotra claims that his examination has led him to believe that in the ITBP, the family issues faced by the jawans may be the reason for suicides, not administrative issues within the force.
Ajay Raj Sharma, a 1966 batch IPS officer and former Director General of the BSF, states that many jawans work overtime, and some suffer from severe mental health issues. This is one of the contributing factors to suicides in the forces. “The reason that leaves are not sanctioned is that people who are to be on leave cannot be too many. At a time, they can give leave only to a certain number of people to maintain their battalion strength. The reason behind the increasing number of suicides among CAPFs is the conditions they are working in. They work in extremely challenging conditions, and then they have to meet their family requirements which they often fail to fulfil. They suffer from severe mental health issues. I know that the vacancies cannot be filled overnight, but if their grievances are adequately addressed in a time-bound manner, many jawans can heave a sigh of relief,” asserts Sharma.
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