Paramilitary veterans protest over exclusion of their contingents from R-Day parade

New Delhi, Jan 25: An association of ex-paramilitary forces' officials has registered its protest against non-inclusion of ITBP, CISF, SSB marching contingents from the Republic Day parade and alleged "discrimination".

The confederation of ex-paramilitary forces welfare associations has expressed its dissatisfaction over "throwing out" of the squads of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) and Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) from the annual national event held at the historic Rajpath in central Delhi here.

"One can feel the pain of the paramilitary forces where they used to display their strength, status and achievement while marching on Rajpath and at the same time they used to celebrate their glorious historical achievements also," the association said in a statement.

The association claims to have support of paramilitary forces veterans from across the country and had also staged protests last year demanding One Rank One Pension and other service benefits for the personnel of these forces which also include the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and Border Security Force (BSF).

The Republic Day parade this year has undergone many first-time changes like introduction of the army dogs squad after many years, a maiden marching contingent of French soldiers, replacement of CRPF male marching team by their womens' personnel unit, first-ever air display by the military chopper 'RUDRA' and reduction in the number of tableaus and cultural pageants.

The BSF camel contingent was also called in the last moment to practice for the event and be a part of the parade. The about 8-lakh strong paramilitary forces, also called the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), are deployed to guard Indian borders and carry out a variety of internal security duties including conducting anti-Naxal operations, guarding VVIPs and securing vital installations like civil airports and agencies working in the nuclear power and aerospace domain.

French President Francois Hollande will be the chief guest of the event with President Pranab Mukherjee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, other dignitaries and common people in attendance at Rajpath.

PTI