After CWG, Tripura troopers ready for Bihar polls

AGARTALA - After the Commonwealth Games, the elite Tripura State Rifles (TSR) will provide security during the Bihar elections beginning Oct 21.

Following a request from the union home ministry, six companies of India Reserved battalions of TSR were deployed at the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi that ended Thursday.

“Considering their efficiency and performance, the home ministry has again requested the Tripura government to send TSR troopers to Bihar,” Director General of Tripura Police K. aleem Ali told IANS.

He said six companies of TSR personnel would reach Patna Oct 19 from New Delhi and shall be posted in three districts of northern Bihar bordering Uttar Pradesh.

The police chief said: “The TSR troopers would stay in Maoist-infested areas of Bihar for more than a month.”

The six-phase Bihar election, to elect 243 legilators to the assembly, ends Nov 20.

Ali, a 1978 batch Indian Police Service officer who took charge here earlier this week, said : “Till now TSR has successfully discharged election related duties in many states, including Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.”

The TSR was constituted in 1984 to counter terrorism in Tripura — 75 percent of its troopers are from Tripura while the remaining are from across the country. At present there are 13 TSR battalions in Tripura.

Of the 13, nine are Indian Reserve Battalions category, which means they can be deployed anywhere in India.

The DGP said that due to its success, skill and accountability towards people’s safety, the TSR has been perceived as a model force by various central paramilitary forces and state governments.

“The TSR’s formation and training have been modelled on the Border Security Force (BSF) and Assam Rifles. Over the years, the elite state force has increasingly become a key combat force,” the officer said.

TSR runs its counter-insurgency and jungle guerrilla warfare institute at Kachucherra in Dhalai district in northern Tripura, similar to the army’s Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare School (CIJWS) in Mizoram.

Troopers of TSR a few months back bagged all 14 top positions in the Police Commando Instructor Course (PCIC) at the National Security Guards (NSG) campus at Manesar in Haryana, Deputy Inspector General Nepal Das said.

“The TSR jawans outshone their counterparts from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Orissa, Assam, Delhi and Chhattisgarh in quick shooting, commando actions, running and other events.”