CRPF, Lead Anti-Naxal Force, Reorients Its Command Structure For Better Operational Efficiency

The lead agency taking on the Left-Wing-Extremists (LWEs) is the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF). Its battalions are engaged in fierce battle with armed Naxal operatives in the jungles of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, and Maharashtra. The force has re-oriented its command structure to improve its operational capabilities and streamline decision-making processes.  

Out of about 35 top Naxal leaders belonging to the Polit Bureau and the Central Committee, 22, including dreaded Basavraju, have been eliminated. Their ideological base is now dwindling among 13 left over, who are scattered across the Red Zones and struggling to have any coordination among them, security and intelligence officials said.

Amid the gains made in its operations against the Naxals, the CRPF has remodelled its command structure at its headquarters to improve operational coordination by reassigning the roles and responsibilities of its senior officers.

The new structure revises the supervisory responsibilities of Special Director Generals (Special DGs) and Additional Director Generals (ADGs), who will now oversee the Inspectors General (IGs) of 13 key divisions.

The Structure And Strategy

According to the officials in the CRPF, the realignment of responsibilities is designed in such a way that they will improve efficiency, reduce functional overlaps and ensure better integration across operational, administrative and support wings of the force.

Under the new command structure, Special DG (Operation) Vitul Kumar, a 1993-batch IPS officer of Uttar Pradesh cadre, has been given the broadest supervisory mandate to oversee the functioning of the IG (Operations), the IG (Intelligence), the IG (CoBRA), the IG (VIP Security) and the IG (Rapid Action Force – RAF). Thus, this grouping brings all key combat and tactical response units under a unified oversight umbrella for effective field coordination and crisis response.

Special DG (Administration) Zaki Ahmed, a 1993-batch IPS officer of UP cadre, will supervise the functioning of IG (Administration), IG (Establishment), IG (Communication) and IG (Medical). The consolidation is aimed at improving internal human resource management, logistics and health infrastructure of the force.

Special DG (Training) Deepak Kumar, a 1994-batch IPS officer of Assam-Meghalaya cadre, will be the lead officer at the Training Headquarters and the CRPF Academy, and he will be responsible for enhancing training quality, officer grooming and upskilling across ranks.

ADG (Headquarters) Sandeep Khirwar, a 1995-batch IPS officer of Haryana cadre, will play critical support functions by supervising the IG (Purse), the IG (Works), the IG (Provisioning) and the Financial Advisor (FA). This group of functions support budgetary management, infrastructure development and procurement processes vital to the force’s daily functioning.

Improved Decision Efficiency

Another senior CRPF official said that the new system defines clearer reporting lines for IG-level officers, thereby improving accountability, transparency and decision-making with speed. The restructuring is also part of ongoing modernisation and brings in professionalism within the force, which plays critical roles in ensuring internal security, counter-insurgency and other law enforcement activities.