JALANDHAR: Frequent deployment on election duty, particularly in the trouble spots of the country such as Jammu and Kashmir has unnerved a section of the Jawans of the India Reserve Battalions (IRB) in Punjab, particularly those who were originally from the Punjab armed Police (PAP) with some of them threatening to move the court if they were deployed on election duty in Jammu and Kashmir again.
The rumblings within the ranks of the IRB have intensified with the prospect of the IRB being deployed again for the Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, particularly since the experiences of the 4th and 5th battalions which a done election duty in the troubled state during the Lok Sabha elections in May this year has not been “too pleasant”’. The Jawans returned with unpleasant memories of having to work in the bitter cold without adequate warm clothing and equipment and carrying out operations on unfamiliar hilly terrain. “It was terrible as there were not even enough tents for us let alone being housed in concrete shelters in stormy weather. We are not keen to face the same situation without proper protection in the months of September or October in the Valley, said a Jawan on the condition of anonymity.
It was pointed out that when the five IRB in Punjab were raised, raw recruits were taken in as Jawans but for the supervisory functions of head constables, sub inspectors and inspectors, people were inducted from PAP battalions and most of them came here on promotion. After serving for a couple of years they normally go back to their parent battalions. However, since the nature of duties in the IRB is different as they are at the disposal of the Central government for being deployed anywhere in the country, those who joined the battalions from the PAP did not like being moved around all over the country when they had joined the police force of Punjab.
Deputy Inspector General of IRB Rajan Gupta when contacted said that while it is true that they were short of warm clothing and other equipment during the Jammu and Kashmir development, but added that in the event of their having to go again for Assembly election duty they would ask the government to post them in plain areas, where the Jawans will have to bear similar weather conditions as in Punjab.
Being a new force, there is a shortage of funds and the IRB has not been able to fully equip itself for deployment in mountainous areas because of this, he said, Gupta said that he was unaware of any resistance from the Jawans to second tenure in the troubled mountainous state. Regarding the matter of PAP, Jawans being transferred to the IRB, he said that they have taken up the matter with the Punjab Government to declare the period that a person spends in the IRB, either as a deputation period or to create a separate cadre for such posts.
Article extracted from this publication >> August 6, 1996
