NEW DELHI: All due transfers in the 1.62 lakh personnel-strong Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) have been cancelled till March next year in view of the COVID-19 outbreak, an order issued by the paramilitary force said on Wednesday.
The measure will affect about 12,000-13,000 personnel and is aimed at "minimising" their "hardship" and saving transfer allowance worth a few crore of rupees that is given to the under-transfer staffers to join the new place of their posting.
An order issued by the force has been accessed by PTI.
It says, "Director General CISF has issued the direction in order to minimise the hardhip of personnel and to control the financial commitment on account of transfer allowance."
It adds that all transfers due this year have been "deferred till March 31 next year".
The force had earlier postponed all transfer orders and movements for its personnel, issued till March this year, in view of the ongoing nationwide lockdown and the coronavirus pandemic.
A final decision has now been taken.
CISF chief Rajesh Ranjan confirmed the move, saying the decision has been taken "keeping in mind all administrative, operational and personnel welfare requirements in the times of coronavirus outbreak".
The order said the only exception to the latest directive will be a transfer done on the grounds of "genuine individual grievance, medical, operational and administrative requirement with clear recommendation and specific justification" by the supervisory authorities.
A senior official explained that going on transfer entails a lot of human and administrative work and it was decided by the DG that it was important to keep the troops safe from the COVID-19 point of view.
All coronavirus-related protocols require physical distancing and avoidance of unnecessary trips and visits and hence, it was decided to suspend all transfer movements in the force, the official said.
He added that while the Centre had put on hold any hike in the dearness allowance in view of the fiscal prudence measures, it was important to save funds under the transfer allowance head.
The transfer allowance for the 12,000-13,000 CISF personnel would have cost a few crore of rupees to the exchequer, the official said.
The CISF is the national civil aviation security force, guarding 63 airports.
It is also tasked with guarding vital infrastructure in the nuclear and aerospace domain, apart from protecting important buildings, both government and private.