Amit Shah at the CRPF event on Sunday. (Express photo by Prem Nath Pandey) Amit Shah at the CRPF event on Sunday. (Express photo by Prem Nath Pandey)

Paramilitary personnel will soon have at least 100 days of leave available to them in a year, Home Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday. Shah was speaking during an event to lay the foundation of the new building of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

“I do not know when we will be able to implement it fully. But we are trying to have a system where our jawans have at least 100 days of leave in a year… We believe if our jawans are protecting the country, it is the duty of the government to take care of them and to protect their families,” Shah said.

Denial of leave is among the reasons for the high attrition rate among paramilitary forces, as well as incidents of suicide and fratricide. Because of constant deployment due to elections and law-and-order situations across the country, paramilitary jawans are unable to get enough relief postings and leave.

Shah further said that the government has decided to enhance housing satisfaction for jawans and officials of central armed police forces (CAPFs) and steps will be taken in the upcoming Budget to allocate funds for this subject, Shah said Sunday. The minister said he has a “firm determination” to change the existing situation on various issues confronting these forces including housing.

“The housing satisfaction ratio (for CAPFs) has to increase… We have firmed up our mind on this… It will taken up in the next Budget. We will do it,” the minister said.

While the CRPF has a poor housing satisfaction of 13.75 per cent at present, the same figure for the about 10 lakh-personnel-strong CAPFs is about 25 per cent, a senior official said.

Personnel who do not get a government house are forced to stay in rented and far-off locations, for which they are paid housing rent allowance (HRA).

Shah said that once housing satisfaction levels increase, it will enable him to implement an ambitious plan to ensure that each personnel of these forces like CRPF, BSF, ITBP, CISF and SSB gets to spend about 100 days in an year with their family.

“By August-September next year we will have a definite action plan for initiation of a number of welfare issues for all these forces,” he said, adding that the Prime Minister has “vowed” that this government will safeguard the families of personnel on duty and will also lessen their stress.

He also declared that families of all CAPF personnel will be given e-health cards so that their medical checkups are undertaken on a regular basis.

“The MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) has tied up with AIIMS for rolling out this health-card scheme. I would urge state police forces to also undertake such an initiative,” Shah said.

Calling CRPF as the “world’s bravest armed force”, Shah said it was very important to give the about 3.25 lakh-personnel-strong force a headquarters of its own and this will enhance its capability and alertness in the future.

The force is categorised as the lead internal security force of the country along with being the mainstay for anti-Naxal operations.

The new Central Reserve Police Force headquarters will come up on a 2.23-acre land adjacent to the CBI head office on Lodhi Road at an estimated cost of Rs 277 crore.

The CPWD has been entrusted with the construction of the new building by 2022.

The current headquarter of the CRPF is at Block No 1 in the Central Government Offices (CGO) complex on Lodhi Road since 1981 and a number of its offices like that of the RAF, CoBRA, medical, training, communications, and works and recruitment are located at different locations in the national capital owing to lack of space in the head office building.

CRPF chief R R Bhatnagar said these offices will now be assimilated in the proposed new building complex.

The plan of the new facility is to have ground plus 11 floors with an auditorium, conference hall, barracks for subordinate staff, central police canteen, gymnasium, guest room, kitchen and dining room and mechanical parking for 520 cars and 15 buses.

Skywalks would be created at the 6th and 7th floor connecting the office blocks with cafeteria.

The building is proposed to have a water and sewage treatment plant, rain water harvesting system and an indigenous ventilation system.

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