Staff crunch hits PAP hard

Nikhil Bhardwaj

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Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 4

The Punjab Armed Police (PAP), whose men and material played a pivotal role in the recent terrorist attack at Dinangar in Gurdaspur is facing a shortage of forces.

From the rank of Superintendent of Police (SP) to constable, the armed wing has a huge shortage of personnel.

The ADGP, Armed Battalion, Sanjeev Kalra, is the highest authority, while four IGPs, including two posted in Jalandhar, while two in Patiala. It has five DIGs, two at Jalandhar, two Patiala and one Chandigarh. They are overseeing the entire wing. At present, the police has 20 battalions, including eight PAP, seven India Reserve Battalion (IRB) and five Commando Battalions having a strength of 15,686 officials, that comprises of 11,119 constables, 3,212 head constable, 462 Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI), 579 Sub Inspector (SI), 148 Inspectors, 106 DSPs, 37 SPs and 23 commandants. Each battalion is facing shortage.

Against the sanctioned strength of 18,796, the armed wing has 15,686 personnel. Hence, it is running short of 3,110 officials of all ranks that include 37 SPs posted against the sanctioned limit 43, 106 DSP posted against sanctioned 149, 148 Inspectors against 179, 462 ASI against 469, 3,212 head constables against 3,452 and 11,119 constables against 13,905.

Till date, PAP had trained 151 batches consisting of 29,049 recruits. They were offered specialised commando training, weapon handling, riot control, field craft and tactics.

Out of 20, eight Punjab Armed Police Battalions ((7th, 9th, 13th, 27th, 36th 75th, 80th and 82th) and two Recruit Training Centre and In-Service Recruit Training Centre which is having a strength of 7,400 police officials that further comprises of around 6,172 constables, 1,389 head constables, 190 ASI, 262 SI, Inspectors, 65 DSPs, 13 SPs and around 10 commandants. Each PAP battalion has strength of average 900 police officials.

The armed wing also has seven India Reserve Battalions (IRB) which is also having a strength of around 5,050 officials that comprises of around 3,531 constables, 1,099 head constable, 150 ASI, 175 SI, 46 Inspectors, 27 DSPs, 15 SPs, seven commandants. Each IRB has strength of 500 to 900 officals. Mostly IRBs are utilised within state for security of banks, VIP/VVIP security, VP Security of i.e. Punjab Bhawan, New Delhi, Mini Secretariat/Punjab Police Headquarters, VIP Complex, Sector 39, Chandigarh, and law and order duties in various districts of Punjab and out of state duty in Jammu. Besides, IRBs have performed election/law and order duties in various states like Bihar, Orissa, Assam, Gujrat, Rajasathan, Jammu and Kashmir, Tripura, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Chattishgarh, Delhi and Haryana.

Similarly, the armed wing has five Commando Battalions which has a strength of around 2,973 officials that comprises of five commandants, 8 SPs, 25 DSPs, 31 Inspectors, 128 SI, 107 ASI, 672 head constables and 1,997 constables. Each such battalion has strength between 400 to 900 officials. All the officers and men of Punjab Police, before their induction into commando battalions, are given three-month basic commando training at Police Commando Training School (PCTS), Fort Bahadurgarh, Patiala. During this course, they are given training in physical conditioning, weapon training, martial arts, commando tactics, explosive and combat engineering, field craft, road, run and walk, fire and combat shooting, map reading and jungle warfare.

Out of eight PAP Battalions, four are stationed in Jalandhar, including 7th, 27th, 75th and 80th, while 13th, 82th, 36th and 9th are stationed at Chandigarh, Patiala and Amritsar, respectively. Out of seven IRBs, two are stationed at Kapurthala, two at Ladda Kothi Sangrur, one each at Patiala, Ludhiana and Amritsar. Out of five Commando Battalions, two are stationed at Mohali and one at Patiala.

Pawan Kumar Uppal, commandant, training, said the armed forces were being updated with refresher training time-to-time. After the Gurdaspur attack, the refresher courses would held more frequently to keep the forces up to date.

Special squads with PAP

PAP has a bomb disposal squad, comprising of two teams with nine members in each team. In tear gas squad, it has 12 officials posted at PAP. Three Anti-Riot Police (ARP) teams stationed at PAP, Mansa and Mukatsar with 32 members.