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The Centre has directed deployment of two fresh CRPF battalions comprising about 2,000 personnel for security duties in ethnic strife-torn Manipur, official sources said Tuesday.
The battalion number 58 is being moved from Warangal in Telangana while the one numbered 112 is being sent from Latehar in Jharkhand. The first unit will have its headquarter in Kangvai (Churachandpur) in Manipur while the second will be stationed around Imphal, the sources told PTI.
They said the move has been ordered following the withdrawal of two Assam Rifles battalions from Manipur for operational duties in Jammu and Kashmir and some other parts of the Northeast.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has directed that all the companies (about 6 each) of these new two units to be based in various parts of the strife-torn state that has been witnessing ethnic conflict since May last year claiming more than 200 lives.
A CRPF battalion has an operational strength of about 1,000 personnel. The force has three main theatres of combat including combating insurgency in the Northeast apart from anti-Naxal operations and counter-terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir.
Additionally, 16 battalions of the force already present in the state following the violence last year, completed the establishment of their operational bases in Imphal West, Imphal East, Churachandpur, Noney, Jiribam, Kangpokpi, Bishnupur last week, the sources said.
There were about 10-11 battalions of the force in Manipur before the violence broke out.
