As a fallout of the Pulwama terrorist attack, which took the lives of 40 soldiers, the government on Thursday approved air travel for all the personnel of Central Armed Paramilitary Forces (CAPFs) travelling to and from the Valley.
The sectors are – Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Delhi, Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Jammu, Ministry of Home Affairs announced from its twitter handle.
The decision will immediately benefit approximately 780,000 personnel of the CAPFs in the ranks of Constable, Head Constable & ASI who were otherwise not eligible earlier. This includes journey on duty and journey on leave, i.e; while going on leave from J&K to home and return.
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This facility is in addition to the existing air courier services for CAPFs that have been steadily extended in all sectors by the MHA to help the jawans cut down on travel time during their journey to and fro from home on leave.
In Jammu and Kashmir Sector, it may be recalled that Air Courier Service for CAPFs jawans was approved for the Jammu-Srinagar-Jammu sector. Subsequently, the Service was extended to cover 1) Delhi-Jammu, 2) Jammu-Srinagar, 3) Srinagar-Jammu and 3) Jammu-Delhi sector in Dec 2017.
The number of flights were further extended in Dec 2018. In addition, air support is provided from IAF as and when required.
Soo after the Feb 14 terrorist attack on a 70 vehicle CRPF in Pulwama which took the lives of 40 soldiers, reports emerged that the CRPF’s request for transporting the troops had been rejected by the home ministry. The reports were denied by the ministry.
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