Central observers to monitor CAPF movement in Bengal through GPS tracking

Kolkata, Feb 25 (IANS) The vehicles allotted to the Central Armed Police Forces personnel, whose deployment in West Bengal will start from March 1 ahead of the Assembly elections, will be fitted with GPS trackers to ensure that the Election Commission of India (ECI)-appointed central observers can constantly monitor whether the deployed CAPF personnel are effectively utilized from day one or not.

The ECI has already given clear instructions that the first phase of 240 companies of CAPF to be deployed on March 1 — which will be before the announcement of the polling dates and enforcement of the model code of conduct — will not be allowed to sit idle. From day one, they will have to be utilised for area domination and get acquainted with the geography of the state.

“Now, to ensure that the Commission-directed effective utilisation is enforced from day one, the vehicles allotted to these CAPF personnel will be fitted with GPS trackers, so the ECI-appointed central observers would be able to constantly track their movement. The observers might also send daily reports on CAPF utilisation to the Commission,” said an insider from the office of the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal.

According to him, the same thing will apply to the 240 additional companies of CAPF that will be deployed in the second phase on March 10.

“In the past elections in West Bengal, there had been several complaints that despite a large number of CAPF personnel being deployed, there had not been effective utilisation even on the polling days. There had also been complaints of CAPF personnel going sightseeing in their duty hours. So keeping such complaints in mind, the Commission this time has decided to strictly monitor the movements of the CAPF personnel from day one to ensure their effective utilisation from the beginning to the end,” the CEO’s office insider said.

The first phase of 240 companies that will be deployed on March 1, will include 110 companies of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), 55 companies of Border Security Force (BSF), 21 companies of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), 27 companies of Indo-Tibetan Police Force (ITBP), and 27 companies of Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB).

The second phase will see the deployment of 240 companies on March 10 — 120 from the CRPF, 65 from the BSF, 16 from the CISF, 20 from the ITBP, and 19 companies from the SSB.

The de-induction of these 480 companies, which is the process of removing troops, equipment, or personnel from a specific area, will be announced in due course, as per the ECI’s notification.

–IANS

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