In a development that highlights the poor training facilities of the force, the CRPF has decided to send a batch of 126 trainee officers at a training academy in Coimbatore due to lack of space at its designated institute located near Delhi.

At least 426 candidates had cleared the UPSC examination in 2010 to be recruited in the country’s largest paramilitary force as officers (Assistant Commandants). But the dream to march out from the historic training academy in Gurgaon would probably never be fulfilled in the case of 126 of these new recruits.

While 300 trainee officers will be trained at the Central Reserve Police Force’s officers academy here, the rest will be permanently sent to the Central Training College (CTC) in Coimbatore.

The CTC, designated to train junior officers like inspectors and sub-inspectors, is not equipped with the kind of infrastructure that is required to train officers. CRPF Academy director H R Singh defended the rationale of such a step though.

“This is a unique situation for us as we got a big batch of 426 people. They were recruited in 2010 and we thought that before they decide to walk away in search of better opportunities, we should create an extension for this academy to train them.”

“The academy at Coimbatore has been put on notice to ensure all the required infrastructure for these fresh trainee officers and there will be no compromise on quality,” said Inspector General Singh, who is also the principal of the Academy. Young recruits in the force, who have just been commissioned, are outraged at the new directive.

“This is a sad state of affairs in a force that is leading the internal security challenge. How can such an arrangement be justified? Can you ask a recruit who is inducted in the Indian Military Academy to train at the Officers Training Academy, or a training institution for junior officials?” said a young CRPF officer.