Air Courier Service for Central Armed Police Forces, IB, NDRF resuming from April 23

By Rajnish Singh
New Delhi [India], April 21 : The Air Courier Service for Central Armed Police Force (CAPF), Intelligence Bureau and National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel will resume from April 23 benefitting them to join their duties or proceed for leave in north-eastern states and also for Naxal-hit Chhattisgarh region.
The order, accessed by ANI, was issued from the office of Director General Border Security Force (BSF) to all the nodal officers of Air Courier Service in Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Assam Rifles, IB and NDRF.
The move comes after approval received by the BSF from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), permitting to resume Air Courier Service from April 23 up to July 31, 2023.
It was also directed by the MHA that the Air Courier Service will be operated by InterGobe Aviation Limited (Indigo) Airlines on all approved routes.
"It is to inform you that as per approval received from MHA, now Air Courier service will be operated by InterGobe Aviation Limited (Indigo) Airlines on all approved routes up to July 31, 2023," mentions the order.
However, the order clarifies, "presently this service will be operated on Delhi-Dibrugarh Guwahati-Delhi, Kolkata-Agartala-Kolkata, Kolkata-Aizawl-Silchar-Kolkata, and Delhi-Raipur-Jagdalpur-Raipur-Delhi routes from April 23, 2022, onwards".
As per the order, it is requested to inform your personnel to utilize the optimum allotted seats in the Air Courier service.
Delhi-Dibrugarh Guwahati-Delhi service will be operated two days a week on Wednesday and Saturday commencing with effect from April 23 while the Kolkata-Agartala-Kolkata service will be operated three days a week on Tuesday, Friday and Sunday commencing with effect from April 24.
Kolkata-Aizawl-Silchar-Kolkata service will be operated one day a week on Saturday commencing with effect from April 23 while the Delhi-Raipur-Jagdalpur-Raipur-Delhi service will be operated three days a week on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from May 7.
The Air courier services for CAPF are running since July 2010. The privatization of Air India resulted in a slight delay in the finalization of tenders by the BSF, which is the nodal agency for handling Air Courier Service.
On April 8, the MHA issued a statement mentioning that it had already granted approval for the continuation of these services by Air India, and that "the tender has also been finalised and orders are under the issue".
"The amount due on account of air travel would also be paid as per rules," the MHA statement mentioned then.
That statement came after Congress demanded that air transit services be restored and also an apology from the government for "risking" the lives of soldiers.
In a statement then, Congress general secretary and chief spokesperson Randeep Surjewala had said that the country lost 44 of its brave soldiers of the CRPF in the Pulwama terror attack in Kashmir on February 14, 2019, due to the suspension of the same air courier service. He also alleged that the attack happened because the CRPF personnel were going by buses to join duty through this very sensitive area.