Air courier services for CAPF personnel not suspended, clarified to government

MHA further said that it has already given approval for the continuation of services by Air India. Tender has also been finalized and orders are being issued. It said that the dues for air travel will also be paid as per rules.

The clarification came after Congress apologized to the government for restoring air transport services and risking the lives of soldiers.

In a statement, Congress General Secretary and Chief Spokesperson Randeep Surjewala said that the country lost 44 of its brave CRPF personnel in the Pulwama terror attack in Kashmir on February 14, 2019 due to suspension of the same air courier service.

He said that the attack happened because the CRPF personnel were going in buses to join duty from this very sensitive area.

He alleged that yet the Narendra Modi government did not give him the facility of air transport to reach his duty point.

He said, ‘We demand that this air transport service should be restored immediately in view of the security of the soldiers, the government should apologize to the country for risking the lives of our soldiers and paramilitary forces.

Surjewala also alleged that while the BJP leaves no opportunity to take credit for the bravery of the soldiers, it does nothing in the name of their safety and saving their lives.

He alleged that after the Pulwama attack, on the demand of the Congress and various news coming out, the Modi government had hurriedly restored the ‘air courier service’ for the soldiers, which has now been suspended again from April 1. .

The Congress spokesperson said that the suspension of air transport service means that the jawans posted in Jammu and Kashmir will now have to travel by rail or road.

“This is the culmination of carelessness, when the government is well aware that an area of ​​about three hundred kilometers in Jammu and Kashmir is at risk. These areas are always prone to IEDs, grenades, drones and suicide attacks.”

“With the suspension of air transport service for paramilitary forces, now paramilitary personnel will have to move in convoys of the same type, which can easily be targeted by terrorists. This will also add to the cost in the form of road opening in large numbers The teams will have to be deployed keeping in view the security of the jawans.

He reminded the government that a few months before the Pulwama attack, the air courier service for such jawans was stopped. The Delhi-Srinagar air service for movement of paramilitary forces deployed in Kashmir was started on January 1, 2018 due to financial reasons, but was stopped after only seven months of operation on July 31, 2018, due to which It was led. For the Pulwama attack of February 2019.

“This attack was brazenly exploited by the BJP in the 2019 general elections,” he alleged. He said that now it is being repeated once again.

The ‘air courier service’ for paramilitary forces has been suspended by the Union Home Ministry at a time when snow has started melting on the higher peaks of the Valley, he said, adding that there was a possibility of terrorist attacks during this period. Is. It is at its peak and there have been many incidents of attacks in the last few days.

“When our soldiers protect the country, it is also the duty of the government to provide them with necessary basic facilities. But the Modi government seems to be failing in this also,” he said.