The country’s paramilitary forces comprising about 10 lakh personnel have ordered immediate suspension of movement of troops for any kind of travel, including leaves or routine work, and directed them to “be where they are” till April 5 to check COVID-19 outbreak in their ranks, officials said on Sunday.
The forces have also asked all personnel and officers tofill up a declaration form to state that none of their family members havetravelled to any foreign destination in the recent past and in case someonehas, they need to be tested or put into isolation on a case-to-case basis.
Officials said the direction has been issued by theheadquarters of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force(BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police(ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and National Security Guard (NSG) in order toensure prevention of a mass outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in theseforces that are the “backbone” of the country’s internal security anddeployed for vital duties including border guarding and counter-terroristoperations.
The troops live very closely in demarcated camp areas andeven one COVID-19 positive case among them can lead to infecting hundreds ofcolleagues in a short time. Hence, all the forces have been asked by the Unionhome ministry to ensure that no one travels for routine duties, goes on leaveor comes back from leave to join duty till April 5, they said.
The order will be reviewed after April 5, the officialsadded.
The CISF, the national civil aviation security force, issueda directive on Saturday stating: “In order to cut down travel risk toprevent the possibility of spread of the disease during travel, the competentauthority has directed that all personnel who are already on leave and likelyto join duty before April 5 may be asked to extend leave till April 5.
“This may be ensured by intimating affected personnelover phone by respective leave sanctioning authorities”.
Two days back, the BSF had similarly cancelled the movementof all its troops and officers.
The over 2.5 lakh personnel-strong border guarding force,primarily tasked to guard the Indian borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh, hassaid violation of these directives will invite action against those whoundertake the journey and their commanders who approve such movements.
The BSF order stated: “It is categorically clarifiedthat there should not be any movement of manpower with regard to leave,training, courses, temporary duties etc, upto April 5.”
The order said these directives are meant for “strictcompliance”.
The force also asked all its commanders to extend the leaveof off-duty jawans and officers till April 5 “with immediate effect, toavoid unnecessary movement from their home town to place of duty”.
The order said such personnel should be informed about theextension of their leaves on their personal telephones so that there is”no communication gap” and such personnel do not begin theirjourneys.
It has also been ordered that officers and sub-officers whoare undergoing a training course “should be kept at the respectivecentres” till April 5 and if required their courses should be extended inorder to stop them from travelling to their homes or offices.
Similar worded orders have been issued by all the forces,two officials privy to the development said.
They said movement of these paramilitary forces or CentralArmed Police Forces (CAPFs) personnel, till April 5, will only be allowed incase of a “strict emergency” and that will be cleared after approvalby senior commanders who will review and decide each case on its individualmerit.
The Union home ministry recently directed that allnon-emergency leaves of paramilitary personnel should be “cancelled”in order to minimise the risk of contracting coronavirus during travel and theyshould get into “battle mode” to combat the pandemic by ensuringpersonal and public safety.There have been nopositive cases for COVID-19 in these forces till now.