New Delhi: Heart attacks, malaria and a host of other diseases coupled with suicide cases have killed more personnel in the country's largest paramilitary CRPF than encounters with Naxals and insurgents over the last half decade, a report prepared on the state of affairs of this vital force of the country has said.
Amongst the diseases, heart attack and cardiac illness instances have claimed the maximum number of lives of the Central Reserve Police Force men and women as over 600 personnel have succumbed to them between 2009 and 2014.
The report, prepared to showcase issues and challenges being faced by the most important internal security force of the country, said, "hard and harsh" working conditions in the force have led to "adverse bearing" on the physical and mental state of CRPF officers and personnel.
While over 2,900 personnel of the force died due to diseases and non-operational tasks during the said period, 252 personnel were killed during operations or security tasks during the comparative period.
Amongst the other major medical causes which claimed the lives of CRPF troops are suicides (207 cases), cancer (231 cases), malaria (102) and HIV/AIDS (153 cases). This was the same time the force saw maximum operational action in various Naxal violence affected states of the country.
A total of 614 cases of death due to heart attack or cardiac diseases were recorded during the same period, making it the most alarming cause of medical challenge for the three-lakh personnel strong central paramilitary.
Amongst the other causes of death in service for these men and women were fratricide (36 cases), tuberculosis (33 cases) while 1,544 troops died due to other reasons like hepatitis, jaundice, brain haemorrhage, renal failure, heat stroke, accidents and a variety of idiopathic illnesses.
The report has been submitted to the government for action and redressal.
"The force personnel, at most of the places of deployment, are made to live in sub-human conditions to such an extent that they have suffered 102 malarial deaths and 8,282 malaria cases during the last five years. The working conditions in the force are very harsh," it said.
"On an average, CRPF personnel have to work for 12-14 hours a day without any compensation for working beyond the standard limit of 8 hours; more than 80 per cent of CRPF personnel cannot avail holidays and Sundays; constant deployment and frequent movements have adversely affected the physical training and well being of the force personnel. This has resulted in adverse bearing on the physical and mental state of officers and men," it said.
The analytical report, prepared by using facts and figures and after taking feedback from field formations, said the "difficult working conditions have caused serious health problems leading to premature ageing (of the personnel)."
"Total number of peace posting locations are available to less than 20 per cent of the force personnel only, resultantly, 80 per cent men have to be transferred from one operational theatre to another. In most places, the men have to live in sub-human conditions. The accommodation provided by state authority is generally temporary and mostly unsatisfactory without even basic facilities like running water, electricity, toilets etc.
"As many as 50 per cent of the personnel live under canvas/huts without any consideration of basic privacy of a normal human being. Owing to frequent movements and nomadic nature of life in the CRPF, the recreational facilities are less than adequate. A high percentage of our personnel perceive the recreational facilities to be poor or very poor," the report said underlining the causes of medical problems in jawans and officers.
The report has said that while 80-89 per cent of the force remains on deployment at any given time, "80-85 per cent" troops remain continuously deployed to fight Maoists in 10 affected states (37 per cent), militancy in Jammu and Kashmir (28 per cent) and insurgency in northeast (16 per cent).
