No auction of retired four-legged Paramilitary soldiers to civilians as MHA set to roll out new SOP

Union Ministry of Home Affairs is working on a new standard operating procedure (SOP) regarding the retirement of four-legged soldiers in paramilitary.

According to sources, the ministry in its draft on the standard operating procedure has decided to give benefits like other paramilitary soldiers to these four-legged soldiers like dogs, horses, etc., working in paramilitary.

The SOP is yet to be finalised but sources claimed that it has been proposed that like earlier days these four-legged soldiers will not be auctioned and will be sent to the retirement homes and will be taken care of by the government.

"The SOP is yet to be finalised which will be cleared by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The old SOP had many flaws after which it was decided to prepare a fresh SOP for these four-legged soldiers. All the paramilitary forces were asked to give suggestions almost three months back. After taking suggestions, it is expected that SOP will be released by the MHA soon," said a senior CRPF official.

"These four-legged soldiers will have retirement benefits like not auctioning them to civilians, taking care of their diet, treatment and other expenses by the force they belong to," a senior ITBP official said.

"There were complaints that after the auction, civilians do not take care of these four-legged soldiers and also in some cases they tried to return it to the force or abandon them. As they retired from the services in many auctions, no one came to take them. In the current SOP, we have suggested that there could not be any option of the auction. Instead of that, they will be sent to breeding centres for rehabilitation," a member of the panel, which has drafted the SOP, told ANI.