The ITBP guards the 3,488-km-long Sino-Indian border. (Representational)
More than 83,000 posts were lying vacant in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), such as the CRPF and the BSF, as on January 1, against the total strength of 10,15,237 posts, the government informed Parliament on Tuesday.
The forces in which the posts are lying vacant are Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), Border Security Force (BSF), Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) and Assam Rifles.
"The current number of vacancies as on January 1, 2023 in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs) and Assam Rifles are 83,127 against total sanctioned strength of 10,15,237," Union Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai said in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha.
He said 32,181 people were recruited between July 2022 and January 2023 and an additional 64,444 vacancies have been notified and are at different stages of recruitment, adding that it has been planned to conclude the exercise in 2023 itself.
It will be incorrect to say that the vacancies are leading to overtime work for the existing personnel, the minister added.
The minister said filling up vacancies is a continuous process and added that the home ministry has been taking and will continue to take earnest steps to fill up the vacancies expeditiously through UPSC, SSC and the forces concerned.
The CRPF is deployed for internal security duties, maintenance of law and order and anti-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeast.
The BSF guards the country's 3,323-kilometre-long border with Pakistan (except the 740-km-long Line of Control) and the 4,096-km-long border with Bangladesh.
The CISF guards vital installations, such as nuclear plants, key industries, metro networks and other important government buildings.
The ITBP guards the 3,488-km-long Sino-Indian border.
The SSB guards India's borders with Nepal (1,751 km) and Bhutan (699 km).
The Assam Rifles guards the 1,643-km-long Indo-Myanmar border and carries out anti-militancy operations in the northeast.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)