Cops helping youths in former Naxal zone toughen up for police job
VARANASI: Twenty-seven educated youths from far flung villages in the once Naxal-affected Naugarh area of Chandauli district are taking physical training lessons from UP Police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel to toughen up for clearing physical examinations for joining security forces.
At least 17 policemen were killed in a landmine blast in Chandauli on November 20, 2004. Though there has been no other major Naxal attack in UP since then, security forces conduct regular patrolling in the area.
The district police selected the educated youths under the initiative: ‘guidance for joining security forces and army” introduced by superintendent of police, Chandauli, Santosh Singh.
The youths were provided uniforms for physical training at a programme in Naugarh on Wednesday.
Singh told HT, “Well-trained personnel of the UP Police and the CRPF have started imparting training to the first batch of youths selected from far-flung villages in Naugarh under the initiative. The youths will undergo training for three hours daily.”
The training session comprises yoga, running, ball throwing and push-ups. “We are also giving them free coaching so that they become familiar with the type of questions asked in the written test and are able to crack them,” Singh said.
After two months, the next batch of youths will be selected for the free training and coaching, Singh added.
The initiative is also an effort to keep youths away from Naxal influence by getting them to join the mainstream.
“It is good that educated youths in the villages in dense forest areas have taken our initiative very positively and responded well,” he said.
Singh said the initiative will help in solving the problem of unemployment in the region and help the police connect with the locals. The police have also decided to hold training sessions for uneducated youths from villages to enable them to get the job of drivers, plumbers, electricians and cooks.