New Delhi: Country's frontline fighting force against China, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), has decided to compulsorily retire over 100 of its serving soldiers after they were found to be suffering from various type of psychiatric disorders including the incurable Alzheimer's disease.
The cases in the mountain-trained paramilitary has sent alarm bells ringing after it was found that troops who have largely served over a decade in the force, could become a "serious risk" for their colleagues or could turn "maniac" while rendering sensitive duties in the internal security domain of the country or during border guarding duties.
Officials and medical experts in the force said while there is no conclusive reason to suggest the exact reasons for these mental disorders and disability diseases cropping up in the force, some of the reasons could be attributed to the genetic history of the individual soldier while some factors related to stress on duty and family tensions too can lead to the eruption of such traits in the force personnel.
"A number of cases have already been taken care of. There are about 40 more such cases currently in the force but in a majority of cases we found the reasons can be attributed to genetic history of the person and reasons related to family troubles," a senior official said on the condition of anonymity.
The cases have been noticed in troops who have served for long periods in the force, the official added.
The ITBP headquarters, sources said, has taken a "considerate" view of these cases and decided to give its sick troops appropriate treatment commensurate to a soldier.
An official note prepared in this regard and accessed by PTI said ITBP chief Subhas Goswami has ordered the medical wing of the paramilitary, which takes care of such cases, to help the troops in all ways possible and that they should be provided "suitable necessary treatment."
The force has now decided to treat these cases under the 'S-5' health category, as stipulated under the directives of the Union Home Ministry, which means a personnel put under such a medical category is "permanently unfit for service".
It was found that in a number these cases the personnel were not able to show any improvement in the last few years and there is a possibility that such personnel could take extreme steps of committing suicide or injuring others in their surroundings.
The ITBP renders its duties in some of the most arduous areas along the icy Indo-China frontier where the altitude ranges from 9,000-18700 feet and the troops man the posts even in sub-zero temperatures.
The force secures 3,488km of the Line of Actual Control (LAC) along China.
