india

Updated: Apr 24, 2020 16:18 IST

New Delhi: The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) conducted an e-passing out parade (e-PoP) for the first time in its history for 42 directly appointed gazetted officers, who joined the ceremony wearing masks and gloves.

The newly inducted officers were at the force’s academy at Kadarpur (Gurugram) for the webinar passing out parade held amid the Covid-19 lockdown, and they were addressed by Union minister of state for home G Kishan Reddy and CRPF director general AP Maheshwari, who were at another location.

The directly appointed gazetted officers, including four women, wore face masks and gloves and were administered the oath to serve the country. Later, academy officials pipped the rank of assistant commandant on their shoulders.

Maheshwari read out a message from home minister Amit Shah to the officers. In his message, Shah told the officers: “I believe that after your training, you have achieved a certain level of maturity to efficiently deal with the numerous challenges in completing operational tasks and discharging your duties.”

He added, “I am confident that the newly appointed officers passing out today will infuse new energy into the CRPF. I would expect that you will provide effective and efficient leadership to the soldiers under your command, by leading from the front.”

Shah further said, “I am confident that you will perform your duties with full honesty and devotion, and will be successful in establishing a clean image of yourself. You will enrich the glorious traditions of the force by devoting yourself to maintain the integrity, unity and sovereignty of the country, as per the fame and glory of this force.

Assistant commandant is the entry level rank for cadre officers in paramilitary or Central armed police forces, and they head a company of about 100 personnel.

These officers, selected by the Union Public Service Commission after an all-India test, have completed a 52-week training course covering field tactics, combat operations, weapons training and legal education.

The officers completed their training on March 5. However, their PoP scheduled for March 22 was put on hold due to the pandemic.

“Later it was reworked into an e-PoP to enable the young officers to render their valuable service to the people during the ongoing public health crisis,” said the CRPF spokesperson, deputy inspector general Moses Dhinakaran.

The officers will stay in the academy during the lockdown until May 3 and will be deployed or posted in units according to necessity arising out of the Coronavirus challenge, an official said.