CRPF decides to add new features to convoy movement to and from Kashmir

NewsBharati    18-Feb-2019
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Srinagar, February 18: In the wake of a "new threat" where an explosives-laden vehicle was detonated by a terrorist alongside the force's bus in Pulwama killing 40 personnel, the CRPF has decided to tweak the standard operating procedures (SOPs) framed to secure its convoys.

 

The chief of the paramilitary force CRPF Director General R.R. Bhatnagar on Sunday said, "We have decided to add new features to our convoy movement to and from Kashmir," after undertaking a two-day tour of the Valley in the wake of the February 14 attack, the worst against security forces in Jammu and Kashmir in three decades. "Apart from traffic control, there will be changes in the timings of convoy, their halt locations and movement in coordination with other security forces like the Army and the J-K police," he said.

He said two convoys have been run after the attack at Latoomode in Pulwama and these new measures are being tested and implemented as part of the standard operating procedures (SOPs). Home Minister Rajnath Singh, after his tour to the Valley post the blast, had said it has been decided that movement of civilian vehicles will be restricted when convoys of security forces move in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) chief said there was no ambush on any CRPF convoy in the last two years and the effort is to neutralise such threats as much as possible. The DG, about sending all troops from Jammu to Srinagar on aircraft to avoid the vulnerability of road movement, said there is "no alternative" to convoys.

Air courier service for the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) has been increased by adding flights from Delhi to Srinagar via Jammu and back in 2018, he said. Many times the helicopters and planes of the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) are also used to airlift CAPF troops to the Kashmir Valley, the DG said.

"As the Jammu-Srinagar Highway was closed due to landslides, the convoy operated on February 14 after a gap of 10 days and there was a large backlog of personnel who were to be transported to Srinagar from the transit camp of the CRPF in Jammu," a CRPF official based in Srinagar said.