No water, food or medicines. Now, go fight ‘biggest threat’

Dornapal (Chhattisgarh): For six years, the government has cried hoarse about Maoists being the single biggest security threat to India. Yet, the Indian state is sending its footsoldiers into battle on an empty stomach, without adequate drinking water and medical facilities.

Ironically, even as the CRPF celebrates ‘Valour Day’ on Friday, its men who are battling Maoists say the Red combatants are just one of the multiple threats they face.

Jawans of the 62nd Battalion of CRPF holed up in the Chintalnar camp — near the site of Tuesday’s ambush that
left 76 men dead — say they can defend themselves against another Maoist attack but are defenceless against malaria and poisonous reptiles. Conditions aren’t any better at the other camps, jawans said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Several jawans claimed patrolling parties often go without enough food. “We are also fighting in the anti-insurgency mode. Army soldiers get dry fruits and other eatables in sufficient quantity during operations. We have to fight on empty stomachs and parched throats. Our jawans need food that matches the task at hand,’’ said a CRPF jawan.

“Malaria is one of the biggest challenges here. People frequently fall sick. Some of us have to proceed on sick leave. What has made matters worse is the nonavailability of medical facilities,’’ said a CRPF jawan. “It’s like asking us to go into battle with one hand tied.”

Maoist combatants, it seems, are uniformly hamstrung by a lack of basic provisions and death lurking everywhere. If the EFR constabulary went to town with their cup of woes after Maoists attacked their Silda camp, the condition of jawans of the 62nd battalion of CRPF holed up in the Chintalnar camp is no better.

“Forget qualified doctors, there are not even decent medicine shops. The local doctors would prescribe the same regular medicines for disease. The nearest hospitals are some distance away. This is not only our plight but of everyone posted or deployed in remote jungle camps,” he said.

Apart from lack of medical assistance, jawans also complained of poisonous insects and snakes. ‘‘At night, you are not sure of what may bite or sting you. Forget patrolling, one is not safe even in camps,’’ said a CRPF constable. ‘‘If a snake or something as poisonous bites a victim, there may not be a chance to save him,’’ he added.

Scarcity of water is another issue plaguing the personnel and while there may be a few pumps, these are often rendered useless in the absence of electricity. ‘‘Water is a big problem here. We have no clue how to manage in this place where we have to work under constant threat and high daytime temperatures,’’ said a jawan.


Posted on: 09/04/2010

A day in the life of a CRPF jawan

It is 6 am and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan, Pawan Kumar, is guarding a bunker on the banks of river Jhelum near Lal Chowk. His day has begun.

After two hours of guard duty it is time for Pawan and his colleagues to have breakfast. What's for breakfast? "Purata, Sabzi and fruit," he says.

For the next four hours without letting his guard down, Pawan Kumar has to be inside the bunker. Since the past one month this has been his routine duty and he has to spent at least 2 more months restricted to the four walls of the bunker without any source of entertainment.

"We have to eat food, wash our clothes etc, clean the bunker and do everything when we are not on guard duty. It's not rest it is reserve duty," says Pawan.

After breakfast, Pawan had just taken a nap when section commander sounds an alert as he notices a suspicious object near the bunker. Dog squad and frisking is carried out. After two hours the jawans ensure everything is alright and at 12 noon before having lunch Pawan Kumar is back on guard duty. 

After every four hours he has to guard the bunker for two hours round the clock.

Pawan has been in the CRPF for the last one decade out of which seven years have passed like this.
 
Married in 2004, Pawan has two children back home in Haryana. His brother is also in the CRPF.

CRPF Commandant, Prabakar Tripati says, "They are on duty for 24 hours and the actual duty hours are more than 12 hours. We are in belt force and we are here with a purpose. We are posted in such an environment for long and are now tuned to such conditions. But over all if we see its taxing."

At 1 am when the entire city is asleep, Pawan Kumar is on guard duty. 

This is not the story of Pawan only but of 50,000 CRPF men posted in Kashmir Valley 

Perhaps this is why a large number of jawans are suffering from stress disorders.

76 CRPF Jawaans Dead; 1 Lac compensation

Indian forces- Army, Navy, Airforce, ITBP, BSF, CRPF, CISF and many more.
Most of the people may be well known about it or may be not. Indian forces; a name of Believe (to secure our life), a name of Proud (enemy needs to think several time b4 attacking on India).
We are having the 2nd largest Armed forces in the world.

Just check this news: then decide what u think;

On April 6, 2010,
In the worst Maoist attack, at least 76 CRPF and district force personnel were on Tuesday killed when a large group of Naxals ambushed them in the thick Mukrana forests of Chhattisgarh's Dantewada district.  The dead included 76 CRPF men including a deputy and an assistant commandant, and a head constable of the district police force.

Lets discuss about a socking news....read below 

On April 6, 2010, in its biggest strike ever, the People’s Liberation Guerrilla Army (PLGA) ambushed a CRPF company in Dantewada and killed 76 policemen. The party issued a coldly triumphant statement. Television milked the tragedy for everything it was worth. The nation was called upon to condemn the killing. Many of us were not prepared to—not because we celebrate killing, nor because we are all Maoists, but because we have thorny, knotty views about Operation Green Hunt. For refusing to buy shares in the rapidly growing condemnation industry, we were branded “terrorist sympathisers” and had our photographs flashed repeatedly on TV like wanted criminals.

Days after the ambush, I ran into two paramilitary commandos chatting to a bunch of drivers in a Delhi car park. They were waiting for their VIP to emerge from some restaurant or health club or hotel. Their view on what is going on involved neither grief nor patriotism. It was simple accounting. A balance-sheet. They were talking about how many lakhs of rupees in bribes it takes for a man to get a job in the paramilitary forces and how most families incur huge debts to pay that bribe. That debt can never be repaid by the pathetic wages paid to a jawan. The only way to repay it is to do what policemen in India do—blackmail and threaten people, run protection rackets, demand payoffs, do dirty deals. (In the case of Dantewada, loot villagers, steal cash and jewellery.) But if the man dies an untimely death, it leaves the families hugely in debt. The anger of the men in the car park was directed at the government and senior police officers who make fortunes from bribes and then so casually send young men to their death. They knew that the handsome compensation that was announced for the dead in the April 6 attack was just to blunt the impact of the scandal. It was never going to be standard practice for every policeman who dies in this sordid war.

Small wonder then that the news from the war zone is that CRPF men are increasingly reluctant to go on patrol. There are reports of them fudging their daily log-books, filling them with phantom patrols. Maybe they’re beginning to realise that they are only poor khaki trash, cannon fodder in a Rich Man’s War. And there are thousands waiting to replace each one of them when they are gone.

Govt has just announced 1 Lac compensation to the Dead Jawaans.
The most dreadful moments of the whole news....

Just think the Person who wins Gold medal/world cup,, are getting about 3 crore. But 1 who sacrifice his life are getting just a promise of 1 lac, even we dont know is there anybody else in his family to arrange Bread/butter for them.