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Long hours of deployment badly affecting health of CRPF Jawans

Vikas Sharma. Dated: 12/17/2018 11:42:24 AM

* Discharging duties over 12 hours of daily work, no holidays
* 80-89 per cent of the force remains on deployment
Vikas Sharma
Jammu, Dec 16
Due to continuous deployment in "high intensity conflict areas" is forcing jawans and officers of country's largest paramilitary CRPF to suffer from large-scale "social ostracisation", said a report prepared on the state of affairs.
It has also dismayed that the CRPF personnel work for 12-14 hours a day and more than 80 per cent of CRPF personnel cannot avail holidays and Sundays.
As per the voluminous analytical report prepared on the current status of the personnel of this three-lakh strong force, they also undergo trauma in marital and family issues and are unable to ensure good education for their children.
The report puts forth some damning facts about the "pathetic" living and work conditions as well as poor emotional and physical well-being of its men and women.
It states that while 80-89 per cent of the force remains on deployment at any given time, "80-85 per cent" troops remain continuously deployed to fight Maoists in 10 affected states (37 per cent), militancy in Jammu and Kashmir (28 per cent) and insurgency in northeast (16 per cent).
The parliamentary standing committee on home affairs, headed by Congress leader P Chidambaram, also said the accommodation provided by the state governments to paramilitary forces sometimes are unhygienic, insecure and poorly maintained, which affects dignity, morale and motivation of troops.
The panel said it understands that the job of armed force personnel is such that he or she has to be alert 24 hours a day, seven days a week and 365 days a year. However, working 12 to 14 hours daily with no scope for holidays and Sundays will result in psychological and physical consequences and affect their work, it said.
The committee said it is important to acknowledge that the working hours regulation under Indian Labour Law stipulates a maximum of 48 hours per week.
While the armed forces are exempted from this directive, it does indicate that their working hours are "neither healthy nor sustainable in the long term", it said.
The committee, therefore, recommends that some mechanism should be worked out by the ministry to provide the much-needed rest and optimal duty hours for the personnel.
The committee recommends that the state governments may work out their own systems and make arrangements for appropriate training of their respective state police forces such that their over-reliance on the CRPF for every law and order situation may be reduced.