CRPF to create special facilities for men maimed in operations

With hundreds of its men having suffered serious injuries in anti-Naxal and other operations, Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has decided to create some exclusive on-job facilities for the differently-abled troops.

The force has also sought the government's nod to enhance the funds limit for procurement of costly prosthetic limbs for those injured.

The country's largest central armed police force often witnesses incidents where its men lose their limbs in improvised explosive device blasts.

However, it has not deterred its personnel from achieving new feats as three of its men, amputated and fitted with artificial legs after being injured in blasts, recently cycled over 500 km to the world's highest motorable road at over 18,000 feet in Khardungla in Ladakh.

Deputy Commandant and Shaurya Chakra awardee R K Singh, Sub Inspector Sushil Kumar and Constable Birbhadra Singh were part of a special para-cycling team that conquered the arduous terrain and extreme weather on August 15.

The feat led CRPF chief K Durga Prasad to issue special commendation medals to them, awarded for meritorious and gallant service.

"I was declared dead by TV news channels for first few hours after our patrol party was ambushed in landmine blasts in the jungles of Jharkhand's Giridih in 2014. The impact was so huge that I was buried in a 5-feet crater created by the blast and I could see my limb hanging on a tree nearby. I thought it was all over for me," SI Kumar told PTI.

"I realise what I have done with my artificial limb is something I could not have imagined attempting before the incident," the Police Medal for Gallantry awardee said.

"Bahut dar lagta thaa sochkar ki kya hoga (I used to be very scared about the future)...But I now feel proud that we will be able to inspire many more like us in the force and also others facing such physical challenges," he said.

Kumar, who has an artificial leg and a metal rod placed in the second, trained hard for over a month before undertaking the expedition with others like him.

He said when he got tired while cycling during the recent trek, he carried his mountain bike on his shoulders and walked.