No ‘Rambo-style’ operations in Naxal areas, SOPs being revised: CRPF

[CONNAN]

CRPF will desist from undertaking any “Rambo”-style operations in the Naxal-affected areas even as the standard operating procedures in that regard are being rejigged, the chief of the country’s largest paramilitary force has said.

Also, in the Left Wing-Extremism operations theatre, more than one lakh central security troops, apart from state police forces, will now be able to get better feed and intelligence data from technological gadgets as the NTRO’s Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) base has now been operationalised right inside the Naxal hotbed in Chhattisgarh.

“We don’t need to do Rambo-style operations… we don’t want that. When we ask our boys to perform a task (in Naxal- affected areas), they do it with a prompt sincerity and hence it is our responsibility to see that they are safe,” CRPF Director General Prakash Mishra told PTI.

The former Odisha DGP, who took charge of the lead anti-Naxal operations force a few months back, said that the operations of the force will now be more focused and intelligence-based rather than being done by deploying security personnel in “herds” to effect a Rambo-type offensive that requires a huge number of boots on the ground.

“We believe quality operations with specific intelligence should be the aim. I have already said all large operations where a large mobilisation of forces is required will need to get clearance from the headquarters,” the DG said.

He added that the SOPs in this regard were being “fine-tuned and rejigged”.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) chief, after taking charge of the three-lakh-strong force in December of last year, had made it known that his “top priority” was to ensure fewer or zero casualties involving personnel in anti-Naxal operations.

Mishra had earlier said that such operations, where there are a big number of troops on the ground, leads to larger visibility of personnel in the operation area, thereby making them vulnerable, tired and easier to be spotted and identified.

Close to 100 security personnel were killed in these operations last year with the major cause of death being Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attacks or ambushes staged either by Naxal or security forces.

The DG, who has toured almost all the major Naxal-violence affected states, said that the new UAV base in Chhattisgarh’s Bhilai was a step in the direction of giving better intelligence and technical aid to the troops on the ground.

The UAVs were till now based in Andhra Pradesh and used to undertake sorties from there under directions of the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO).

Efforts to get the UAV base located in the Naxal heartland gained momentum after security forces complained about the delay in the help being provided by these machines owing to the distance from their base to the scene of Maoist activity.

Mishra said that anti-Naxal operations in all the states were being conducted keeping in mind the new motto.

No ‘Rambo-style’ operations in Naxal areas, SOPs being revised: CRPF | The Indian Express

 

[Koovie]

Glad to hear that
Terrible operational planning and tactics have been the biggest reason for casualties in anti naxal ops.

 

[zootinali]

Does CRPF have their own choppers ? IMO they desrve an air arm of dhruvs and other weponised choppers or planes.

 

[Jai_Hind]

Does CRPF have their own choppers ? IMO they desrve an air arm of dhruvs and other weponised choppers or planes.

NO, There were some news of CRPF getting choppers few years back
CRPF to get own air wing soon -The New Indian Express

But they use Dhruvs and MI17s from IAF

 

[vk17]

Finally some sense prevails to higher ups in CRPF, one of the best of DG, CRPF has got in recent years after Vijay Kumar. Excessive number of ops were being conducted in recent times by CRPF just to make higher ups happy.
"90% of CRPF ops are without any intelligence" Done just in name of Area domination and to increase number of ops count.
No state Government wants Naxals to be eradicated, so they never give any solid intelligence, otherwise Naxals would have been wiped out completely by 2012 only.

Does CRPF have their own choppers ? IMO they desrve an air arm of dhruvs and other weponised choppers or planes.

CRPF has been begging for Air wings for years, Ironically out of 6 Helicopters given to BSF, 4 are always for use of CRPF,
Whining for most expensive fighters in world, our Airforce pilots are scared of flying as they say, they come under bullet fire. Many a times they refuse to airlift injured and malaria victims, CRPF men die lying in camps waiting for medical attention. But CRPF is still a fodder force, meant for dying, so nobody gives a shit neither GOI nor citizens of India.

 

[Tshering22]

Does CRPF have their own choppers ? IMO they desrve an air arm of dhruvs and other weponised choppers or planes.

They get close air support and transport from IAF. Nothing heavy in fire power.

I don't know what Rajnath is up to, but if this works, good. Looking at the last 30 years, this toned down approach doesn't work.