A panel in the house will take urgent steps to improve living conditions at the CRPF camp in Srinagar
CRPF personnel camping at a rented hotel in Srinagar are finding the living conditions “uncomfortable” and the issue needs to be addressed ASAP, says a parliamentary committee. The ministry also urged the CRPF to upgrade the camp’s facilities and allocate funding to do so.
Its report was tabled in the Upper House on Tuesday by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs, headed by BJP’s Rajya Sabha member Brijlal.
It found that CRPF’s 132 Battalion is housed in 24 rooms of Hotel Nedous of ITC Group on M A Road, Srinagar. CRPF personnel are performing their duties in a militancy-infested area like Jammu and Kashmir well. Despite that, the living conditions at the camp were not conducive, and it needs to be addressed urgently,” the report said.
The committee recommends the MHA take up this issue with the CRPF and allocate the funds to improve the living conditions. It also recommends that the MHA review the conditions of all camps renting housing. We’d like to know if any progress has been made,” the report said.
To review the living conditions in all CRPF camps with rented accommodations, the committee has asked the Zonal Inspectors General of Police (IsGP) to form a committee. According to the report, “The committee wants to know when committees are formed by the IGP and what the results are of the reviews conducted by these committees, along with concrete steps taken on the basis of such reviews to improve living conditions in CRPF camps, which operate from rented accommodations.”
On Wednesday, MoS Home Nityanand Rai spoke in the Rajya Sabha about some welfare measures for CAPF people and their families. The CAPF has increased the risk and hardship allowances for its personnel deployed in Jammu and Kashmir and Left-Wing Extremism (LWE) affected districts to fight Naxals. Additional house rent allowance (HRA) at the rate of ‘Y’ Class city (16% of basic pay) for CAPF personnel posted in Kashmir valley for keeping their families at their last place of posting, if no government housing is available,” Rai said.
