New Delhi, March 5
Heavy casualty of its men in naxal attacks due to lack of adequate intelligence inputs, has prompted the Central Reserve Police Force
(CRPF) to set up its own Intelligence Wing despite the Ministry of Finance
turning down its request for financial assistance.
According to sources, the Intelligence Wing, to begin with, would comprise about 1250 officers and jawans and would be fully functional by early next year and the expenses for the same will be met from CRPF's internal resources.
An officer of Inspector-General (IG) will be positioned in CRPF's Delhi Headquarters, each Range will have a DIG and each Sector Units will be headed by Deputy Commandants, sources said.
There will be interrogation team at Range level, which will be integrated to the Intelligence Wing.
Due to ever-growing challenges to Internal Security, especially due to Naxalism, the CRPF had sent a detailed proposal to the Union Home Ministry to sanction setting up of its own independent Intelligence Wing. However, this proposal was rejected by the Ministry of Finance, which is the nodal ministry which sanctions funds.
Subsequently, the Home Ministry asked the CRPF to go ahead with the Intelligence Wing, if it could manage men and resources for the same from its own available internal resources.
Now the CRPF, which has been deployed in 14 states for anti-naxal operations, has to depend on the Central Intelligence agencies and State intelligence
apparatus for information. On many occasions, due to lack of adequate intelligence inputs or communication gap had resulted in heavy casualty to CRPF, sources said.
During 2005, which was the bloodiest year in the past six years as far as Naxal violence is concerned, of the 153 police personnel killed in 146 IED blasts, 45 jawans belonged to the CRPF.
In a related development, the CRPF is understood to have written to the DGPs of Naxal-hit States to ensure that the CRPF is involved in "every stage" - from gathering intelligence to coining strategy for anti-naxal operations - to avoid any communication
gap and to ensure effective counter operations.
Meanwhile, in the wake of last year's major naxal attack in Jehanabad, Bihar and the recent attack on tribals in Dantevada District in Chhattisgarh, the Home Ministry has provided CRPF with 513 Global Positioning System to keep track of operation vehicles, 1068 mobile phones for Commanding Officers, 23 mineproof vehicles, 38 automatic Granade Launchers and 105 Medium Machine Guns.
