Will meet housing needs of CAPF jawans: Shah

TNS & Agencies

New Delhi, December 29

The Modi government has decided to enhance housing satisfaction for jawans and officials of central armed police forces (CAPFs) and steps will be taken in the Budget to allocate funds for this subject, Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Sunday.

Addressing CRPF personnel during the foundation-laying ceremony for their new headquarters building here, Shah said: “The housing satisfaction ratio (for CAPFs) has to increase… We have firmed up our mind on this… It will taken up in the next Budget. We will do it,” the minister said.

While the CRPF has a poor housing satisfaction of 13.75 per cent at present, the same figure for the about 10 lakh-personnel-strong CAPFs is about 25 per cent, a senior official said.

Personnel who do not get a government house are forced to stay in rented and far-off locations for which they are paid housing rent allowance (HRA).

He also said efforts were being made to ensure that personnel of paramilitary forces get at least 100 days off in a year to spend time with their families.

Shah insisted that the government is determined to take care of the families of central security forces personnel while they guard the nation. The family members of the paramilitary personnel will soon get health card facility. “The MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) has tied up with AIIMS for rolling out this health-card scheme. I would urge state police forces to also undertake such an initiative,” Shah said.

Over three lakh strong CRPF is considered as the lead internal security force of the country along with being the mainstay for anti-Naxal operations. The new Central Reserve Police Force headquarters will come up on a 2.23-acre land adjacent to the CBI head office on Lodhi Road at an estimated cost of Rs 277 crore.

The CPWD has been entrusted with the construction of the new building by 2022. The current headquarter of the CRPF is at Block No 1 in the Central Government Offices (CGO) complex on Lodhi Road since 1981 and a number of its offices like that of the RAF, CoBRA, medical, training, communications, and works and recruitment are located at different locations in the national capital owing to lack of space in the head office building.