GURGAON, Jan 13: In a development that highlights the poor training facilities of the force, CRPF has decided to send a batch of 126 trainee officers at a training academy in Coimbatore due to lack of space at its designated institute located near Delhi.
A total of 426 candidates had cleared the UPSC examination in 2010 to be recruited in the country’s largest paramilitary force as officers (Assistant Commandants). However, the dream to march out from the historic training academy in Gurgaon would probably never be fulfilled in the case of 126 of these new recruits.
While 300 trainee officers will be trained at the Central Reserve Police Force’s officers academy here, the rest will be permanently sent to the Central Training College (CTC) in Coimbatore.
The CTC, designated to train junior officers like inspectors and sub-inspectors, is not equipped with the kind of infrastructure that is required to train officers.
CRPF Academy Director H R Singh, however, defended the rationale of such a step while talking.
“This is a unique situation for us as we got a big batch of 426 people. They were recruited in 2010 and we thought that before they decide to walk away in search of better opportunities we should create an extension for this academy to train them.
“The academy at Coimbatore has been put on notice to ensure all the required infrastructure for these fresh trainee officers and there will be no compromise on quality,” Inspector General Singh, who is also the Principal of the Academy, said.
In an official communication last month, Singh had given
the reasons.
“The academy (in Gurgaon) can accommodate 150 officers at a time and this capacity can be stretched to 300 but this would still leave us with 126 trainee officers who would still have to be catered for.
“Keeping availability of infrastructure (at Gurgaon officers academy), it was decided that training of trainee officers who cannot be accommodated at CRPF academy, Gurgaon will be trained at academy extension at CTC, Coimbatore,” he had said.
Young recruits in the force, who have just been commissioned, are outraged at the new directive as they say that this is not only demoralising for them but also for the young men and women who join its ranks looking forward to a glorious career.
“This is a sad state of affair in a force which is leading the internal security challenge in the country. How can such an arrangement be justified? Can you ask a recruit who is inducted in the Indian Military Academy (IMA) to train at the Officers Training Academy (OTA) or a training institution for junior officials?,” a young CRPF officer asked.
The IG justified this step in his official letter saying the force does not want that the trainer and trainee ratio decrease, and hence the recruits are sent to Coimbatore to “ensure that there is no dilution of training” and each candidate gets enough attention.
The CRPF has also made a unique arrangement of connecting both the Gurgaon and Coimbatore centres through internet for conducting the classes for this batch of officers while trainers will travel between the two centres to coach the rookies, he said.
The force plans to bring the Coimbatore trainees to the Gurgaon academy for the last three months of their training so that “these (126) trainees also feel CRPF academy as their alma mater”.
A senior officer remarked, “It’s a cruel joke on all those who would move to Coimbatore. How would it be decided who goes to the junior officers academy and who stays at the top notch Gurgaon academy?”
IG Singh said the last 126 on merit will be sent to Coimbatore.
However, no official orders have been issued by the CRPF headquarters designating the CTC Coimbatore as an extension for the Gurgaon-based officers academy.
The CRPF academy in Gurgaon was established in 2002 and is nestled in the foothills of Aravalli mountains and is equipped with the best infrastructure to train and develop the future leaders of the almost three lakh personnel strong force. (PTI)
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