As a mark of respect to its 40 jawans martyred last month in the Pulwama terror attack, the CRPF will officially not be celebrating Holi this year.
CRPF Director General RR Bhatnagar also informed that the force was creating a ‘mobile app‘ to provide help to the families of the jawans killed in action.
He also addressed the issue of terrorism in the Kashmir valley and said:
In Jammu and Kashmir, tackling terrorism is a challenge. The force has neutralised 210 terrorists in operations last year in the Kashmir valley.
According to NDTV, CRPF Director General RR Bhatnagar spoke at an event marking the 80th raising day of the force at its group centre in Gurgaon and also said that the influence of Maoists had reduced by 40%.
The Naxal problem is now restricted to only a few areas, especially Chhattisgarh.
The DG also informed the media that the force was in the process of procuring advanced weapons and gadgets including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, light bulletproof jackets, rifles, ground penetrating radar and signal jammers to equip the troops better during combat.
The morale of the force is at the top and I can assure the country that we are prepared to meet any challenge.
Earlier last month, 40 CRPF jawans had lost their lives to a suicide bomb attack. The terror attack had escalated and brought India and Pakistan to the brink of war.