The CRPF is undertaking a "massive" exercise of realigning more than 130 of its battalions spread across the country to improve the operational efficiency of the force and provide quality "family time" to its troops deployed extensively in operations and hard duty areas, official sources said. The mega exercise is being carried out after eight years. It was approved by the Union home ministry last week.

As part of the realignment, a total of 137 battalions of the force out of the total 248, will be attached with those group centres (GCs) that are geographically closer to their place of deployment, as per a blueprint accessed by PTI.

Special CRPF battalions like those rendering VIP security and anti-riots Rapid Action Force (RAF) will not be included in this process.

A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) battalion has a strength of more than 1,000 personnel.

The CRPF, the country's largest paramilitary force with about 3.25 lakh personnel, has its GCs in various cities, which act as the headquarters for about five battalions each.

The GCs, a concept launched in the force in 1968, were meant to nourish the combat battalions and keep them free from administrative and personnel tasks under the command of a deputy inspector general (DIG) rank officer.

Over the years, according to a senior officer, the force expanded and the battalions affiliated to a GC got deployed far away from their mother or parent base in order to cater to emerging internal security challenges like anti-Naxal operations, counter-insurgency in the northeast and counter-terrorist duties in Jammu and Kashmir.

"For example, a battalion belonging to a GC in Kerala would be deployed in Chhattisgarh leading to issues of provisioning, supplies and logistics. The new realignment aims to reduce the time taken and energy spent on these tasks," he said.

A senior CRPF officer said the new protocol, which will come into effect from December 1, has been brought about as the deployment of the force has undergone "large-scale" changes in the last two to three years with units being withdrawn from Bihar, Jharkhand and West Bengal and deployed to "troubled spots" in Chhattisgarh, Manipur, and Jammu and Kashmir.

"The new realignment of battalions will reduce the multiplicity of reporting and supervisory mechanisms, and decrease the distance of the units from parents GCs from an average of 1,200 km to 500 km. It will also improve procurement and supply procedures.

"The new move will also allow the personnel to be closer to their families. Reducing distances between the Jawan and his family in a force like CRPF is very important given the fact that almost 95 per cent of the force is operationally deployed around," the officer said.

The officers who worked on the new plan also claim that with the new decision the supervision of the GCs and upward command structure like sectors and zones will increase from 41 per cent to 74 per cent (at the zonal level) thereby enhancing the operational and administrative efficiency of the force.

However, a group of senior officers said the move would lead to an administrative "burden" and involve the physical movement of a huge number of records from one location to another.

"The GC realignment has been attempted in the force earlier too...the last being around 2013-14. It leads to a lot of administrative burden. It remains to be seen if the current plan will work and meet the desired targets," an officer deployed in Jammu and Kashmir said.

(With Inputs From Agencies)