The Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday approved air travel of all personnel of the Central Armed Paramilitary Forces moving between Delhi and Srinagar, and Jammu and Srinagar on official duty, transfer, or on leave.
The ministry’s decision comes after a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama killed 40 personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force on February 14.
The ministry said the move will benefit approximately 7,80,000 personnel of the Central Armed Paramilitary Forces in the ranks of constable, head constable and ASI who were otherwise not eligible earlier. Previously, only officers were given air travel on these sectors, according to India Today.
“This includes journey on duty and journey on leave, ie while going on leave from J&K to home and return,” the ministry tweeted.
The ministry said the facility will be in addition to existing air courier services for Central Armed Paramilitary Forces, which includes the Central Reserve Police Force, Border Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, Central Industrial Security Force and Sashstra Seema Bal.
The ministry said air courier services have been “steadily extended” in all sectors in order to cut down on travel time of jawans. “The number of flights were further extended in Dec 2018. In addition, air support is provided from IAF as and when required,” it said.
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