MHA doubles air service for CAPFs going to Manipur

The Union home ministry has increased the frequency of chartered air courier service from three days to six days a week for Central Armed Police Forces personnel travelling to and from between Kolkata and Imphal due to their “continued deployment” in ethnic violencehit Manipur.

As per official order issued on March 5, increasing the air courier service for CAPFs personnel such as the CRPF, BSF, ITBP, SSB, CISF and other organisations under the ministry like the Intelligence Bureau, NIA and NDRF has been initially done till September 30, officials said.

The frequency of flights between Kolkata-ImphalKolkata has been hiked from the existing three days in a week to six days due to the “frequent movement of the CAPFs personnel for induction and deinduction from Manipur’s capital of Imphal owing to the dynamic security challenges occurring in the state”, they added.

The officials order also said that an increase in the number of days for the air courier service was being done till September 30 or till the presence of these forces gets thinned due to the law and order situation getting normal, whichever was earlier.

The air courier service pertains to the exclusive engagement of commercial airline aircraft, like chartered planes, by the Union home ministry for security personnel serving in the hard and extremely hard areas of Jammu and Kashmir, the Northeast and the Leftwing extremism (LWE) affected states.

The smooth operation of the air courier service for the CAPFs has been facing difficulties due to issues related to the pricing of tickets and adequate availability of the aircraft as many airlines have shut shop over the last few years, a senior CAPF officer said.

Following the ethnic violence in Manipur in May last year, as many as 150 companies have been sent to Manipur as additional reinforcements since violence erupted.