CISF DG removes red beacon on his vehicle

In the backdrop of the Supreme Court's criticism of indiscriminate use of beacons, the chief of paramilitary CISF has taken the lead among police officers in the national capital by having the red flashing light removed from atop his vehicle.
CISF Director General Arvind Ranjan, who took over the command of 1.40-lakh personnel force in December, decided to remove the beacon from his official car soon after he entered office.
The vehicle, however, bears a blue three-star board indicating the vehicle belongs to a DGP rank officer and is escorted by a commando team drawn from the forces.
The move by the top boss has prompted other officials in the force, who include Inspectors General (IsG) and Deputy Inspectors General (DIG), to take off the blue beacons from their vehicles.

The official vehicles of the force, which is the third largest after CRPF and BSF, now only sport the flag on the vehicle and stars according to ranks.
Officials said while there were no orders from the Union Home Ministry in this regard the DG initiated the step on his own.

The national capital has the headquarters of six central paramilitary forces besides the officials of the Delhi police.
The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) DG is one of the senior most IPS officers in the country and the officer, along with the other DsG of central police forces including CRPF, ITBP, BSF, SSB and NSG, sport the red beacon on their vehicles.

While paramilitary chiefs usually have a red beacon, officials down the hierarchy like Special DsG, Additional DsG, IsG and DIsG keep blue beacons on their flag vehicles.
"There is no uniform policy on the usage of beacons as such in these forces. A number of vehicles apart from those of the officials also sport beacon lights," a senior official said.