CRPF to hire private choppers for anti-naxal operations

NEW DELHI: After several run-ins with IAF, CRPF has floated bids to hire private choppers for anti-naxal operations. CRPF will, however, assume no responsibility if the choppers come under fire from insurgents. In a bid document issued by CRPF on March 15, it has specified that it intends to hire two private choppers for “supervisory reconnaissance by senior officers” besides carrying troops, supplies like weapons and rations and casualty evacuation. The choppers provided by IAF to CRPF had so far mainly been employed for casualty evacuation with CRPF rarely getting a chance to do a air reconnaissance of possible Naxal targets.

The responsibility of the chopper’s safety will rest on the private company. “The helicopters will be hired for assisting in combat missions. Combat missions mean the helicopter, as it ferries troops or evacuates casualties, may come under hostile fire from the ground...the department cannot assume any responsibility in regard to any harm that might come to the operator’s man or machine in such missions,” the CRPF bid document says.

CRPF has specified that the operator will have no discretion to refuse any flight due to any risk perception. The choppers are to be stationed in Jagdalpur in Chhattisgarh and Ranchi in Jharkhand but may be used in other naxal-affected states.