NEW DELHI: In a first, the CRPF has categorised over 200 operational battalions into four categories to bring in transparency in postings of the officers and men from hard and soft areas.The personnel deployed in hard areas are required to be posted in soft areas every three years. The move is expected to remove the whimsical transfers effected by the personnel branch of the paramilitary’s headquarters here.The Category A (Special Operation Zone—SOZ) comprises 21 battalions of the CRPF and four battalions of elite anti-Naxal force Combat Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA). All these 25 battalions (25,000 personnel) are deployed in the Bastar region of Chhattisgarh, which is worst-hit by Naxals.
The SOZ consists of the strongholds of South Bastar region with high conflict zones covering Sukma, Dantewada, Bijapur, and interior Bastar districts. Future deployments in these districts will also be considered as Category A, Deputy Inspector General (Personnel) Sudhakar Upadhyay said in his recent order.Category B units include 108 battalions deemed High Risk and High Hardship are deployed in Naxal-hit states like Jharkhand, Bihar, and Odisha, besides insurgency-hit states in the Northeast and Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu and Kashmir dominates the Category B with 36 battalions, followed by 21 battalions in Jharkhand.
Category C includes deployments in High Risk and Moderate Hardship areas including 12 battalions in Jammu and Kashmir, nine in Assam, seven in West Bengal, one or two units each in Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh. As many as 47 battalions have been categorised under this category.
Category D has 30 units and the areas of deployment will be treated as Moderate Risk and Moderate Hardship.
All the battalions of Rapid Action Force, Signal units and those deployed in static offices including the Force’s headquarters in the national capital, all the establishments in the zones, sectors and range besides the training centres will be included in this category.