CRPF 'improvises' troop carriers with locally sourced material

NEW DELHI: Facing a "tedious" procurement process, the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has taken to armour plating hundreds of its vehicles and troop carriers in Kashmir by "improvising" with locally available metal sheets, concrete and wooden planks.

The force, which has come under a spate of attacks on its convoys in the Valley in the recent past, had decided to ensure a partial or full bullet-proof armour to its four-wheeled troop carriers.

But, the force faced a glitch, which it is now resolving with a 'jugaad'.


"We are trying to acquire more bullet-proof vehicles (for deployment in Kashmir). Since, the rate of procurement and procurement through suppliers is a tedious process...we decided to improvise. We have asked our units to use local material and bring in local vendors to do the job," CRPF Director General R R Bhatnagar told reporters on the eve of the 78th Raising Day of the paramilitary force.

He said that even workshops of the force are trying to do the job of partially bullet proofing the vehicles.

"We are stepping up our efforts so that our buses are partially bullet proofed. We are also in the process of getting regular bullet proofing for our buses. The improvisation is a short-term measure that we have taken recourse to," he said.

The DG said after witnessing these procedural issues, the government was "actively considering" to expedite the process, that will go a long way in saving lives of the CRPF men deployed in the state for conducting counter-insurgency operations and rendering law and order duties.

Stating an example, Bhatnagar said during a recent militant attack on a convoy in the Pantha Chowk area of Srinagar, lives of eight troops were saved because of a similar improvisation of the vehicle that came under attack.

Unfortunately, we lost a sub-inspector in that attack, but the partial bullet proofing of the vehicle using a three-layer plating of metallic sheet, concrete and wood saved the day for us and there were no more causalities, the DG said.

The Central Reserve Police Force was raised on July 27, 1939 as the Crown Representative's Police (CRP) and at present, is the largest paramilitary of the world with a strength of about three lakh personnel.