Rapid Action Force to set up five new battalions in country: DGP

AHMEDABAD: Rapid Action Force (RAF) will set up five new battalions in the country, Director General, Central Reserve Poilce Force (CRPF) announced here today.

"The Centre has realised usefulness of RAF and therefore has decided to set up five new RAF battalions across the country," Dilip Trivedi, DG of CRPF, under which RAF comes, told reporters on the 22nd Formation Day of the RAF programme.

Trivedi said that the new battalions will be set up in Guwahati, Siliguri, Patna while one battalion each in Uttar Pradesh and in NCR (National Capital Region).

"In Uttar Pradesh, the RAF battalion will be set up either in Allahabad or Faizabad," he said.

At present there are 10 battalions of RAF. On establishing of new battalion in Guwahati, Assam, Trivedi said the RAF battalion will be helpful in the conflict with the Bodo militants.

"The establishment of battalions in conflict regions will help the force to understand and to get familiar with the situation in that region," he said.

Trivedi further said that RAF is also likely to form a women battalion in Gujarat soon.

"We have got a land to form a women battalion in Gujarat...we will soon finish some financial dealings in it," the DG said.

Replying to a query on use of advance weapons in the RAF, he said that they are looking forward to use non-lethal weapons to avoid any collateral damages or casualty in a situation of conflict.

On peace-keeping activities of the force in foreign countries, the officer said that one RAF troop, comprising 250 personnel that include 125 men and as many women, is in west Africa's Ebola-hit Liberia for the last couple of months.

Trivedi said that United Nations had sought RAF's help to provide relief operations in Liberia, though they were not considering to sent any RAF team as they were not given any training for such relief operations.