After the horrendous Pulwama attack in 2019, in which scores of CAPF personnel were martyred, the changes made by the Home Ministry giving preference to security forces personnel to travel to certain segments across the country infested by terrorism by air with special fare have lately proven to be unproductive. This is primarily due to the privatization of the state-owned carrier, Air India, and the limited capacity of other carriers to accommodate the bravehearts to reach their places of posting. There is currently no provision for exclusive air travel arrangements through dedicated flights, giving tough times to the security forces personnel to secure a seat on existing flights.
As there seems to be no way out to this problem, the biggest losers are the security forces personnel since they have left with no other option but to rely on surface transport which is time consuming and arduous besides leading to a big compromise on the security front as threats do loom in the regions plagued with violence including J&K, naxal-affected areas and northeastern states.
It seems that there is immediate solution for this problem as the privatization of Air India has limited the availability of affordable and convenient air travel options for CAPF personnel. With profit-making goals, the private players often prioritize commercial passengers over entities having subsidized access to air travel, making it challenging for the CAPF personnel to secure timely and cost-effective air tickets for commuting in the conflict zones.
In the absence of dedicated flights for the security forces as the case described earlier, the situation could potentially hamper the CAPFs ability to respond swiftly to security threats thus making it imperative for the helmsmen to come out with a resolution as early as possible because delay in the matter could cost dearly.
All said and done, it is solemn duty of the government to address aforesaid concerns and ensure that the CAPF continues to have reliable and affordable air travel options for their operations in terror infested zones.
It is pertinent to mention that after the initial decision in 2019 to provide an air courier service to those personnel posted in Jammu & Kashmir, the Ministry extended the facility in all sectors to help security personnel cut down on travel time during their journey to and fro from home on leave. The eight approved routes include Kolkata-Aizawl-Silchar-Kolkata, Kolkata-Agartala-Kolkata, Kolkata -Imphal-Kolkata, Delhi-Srinagar-Delhi, Srinagar-Jammu-Srinagar, Delhi-Leh-Delhi, Delhi-Dibrugarh-Guwahati-Delhi, and Delhi-Raipur-Jagdalpur-Raipur-Delhi, but until the government will do something substantial in the matter the security forces personnel would have to confront the problems as the allowance on air travel has been proving fruitless.
