Jawans of CRPF, other forces can now take commercial flights to Kashmir Valley

New Delhi: Personnel of the paramilitary forces deployed in the Kashmir Valley for counter-terror operations have been entitled by the government on Thursday to take commercial flights to either join duty or go on leave, in the wake of the killing of 40 jawans in a deadly attack on their convoy in Pulwama.

The Ministry of Home Affairs issued an order saying it "has approved the entitlement of air travel on Delhi-Srinagar, Srinagar-Delhi, Jammu-Srinagar and Srinagar-Jammu sectors to all the personnel of the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs)".

This includes, the order said, their journey for joining duty, transfer, tour or going on leave.

Till now, officers in the rank of Inspectors and above were given this air travel facility.

As many as 65,000 CRPF personnel are deployed in the state as part of 65 battalions apart from units of the BSF, ITBP, CISF, SSB and the NSG present in the Kashmir valley for rendering a variety of roles in the internal security grid.