Amid communal violence, Haryana govt sanctions land for RAF battalion in Nuh

Nearly five years after the Centre approved a new battalion of the CRPF's anti-riot unit RAF to be based in Nuh, the Haryana government finally sanctioned land for it at a time the district witnessed communal clashes, official sources said on Wednesday.

The sanction to hand over the plot of about 50 acres in Indri village of Nuh to the Rapid Action Force (RAF) came earlier this week, the sources told PTI, adding the land was earmarked but a final declaration on its use by the force was awaited for more than a year.

The procedure to take over the land will happen soon, followed by the foundation stone laying ceremony by a dignitary, they said.

The construction of office and housing infrastructure and other basic amenities for the battalion will take a few more years, the sources said.

The Union government had declared in 2018 that five more battalions of the RAF will be raised and they will be based in Varanasi (Uttar Pradesh), Jaipur (Rajasthan), Shivamogga (Karnataka), Hajipur (Bihar), and Nuh.

The RAF, with these five more units, has a strength of total 15 battalions.

The 10 other battalions are based in Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Allahabad, Mumbai, Delhi, Aligarh, Coimbatore, Jamshedpur, Bhopal and Meerut.

The Nuh battalion, officials said, was functioning from other locations including a small unit that was stationed at a police station in the district.

Communal violence began in Haryana's Nuh on Monday over an attempt to stop a Vishva Hindu Parishad procession. The violence later spilled over into neighbouring Gurugram and other places.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar said on Wednesday that six people have died so far in the violence while 116 people have been arrested and 90 detained.

Twenty companies of various Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), including a dozen of the RAF, have been deployed by the Centre in Nuh and adjoining districts on the request of the state government.

A single RAF battalion has a strength of just over 1,200 personnel and it is equipped with lethal rifles, gadgets and non-lethal weapons like pump action guns, tear smoke grenades, water cannons to enforce security and law and order in case of protests or riot-like situations.

The blue dungaree donning RAF is part of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), the country's largest paramilitary force or the Central Armed Police Force with over three lakh personnel.

The RAF was raised and made fully operational in October, 1992.