Shah will meet senior CRPF personnel, including Director General R.R. Bhatnagar, around 10.30 a.m. on Friday at the paramilitary force's headquarters at CGO complex in Lodhi Road area here, said Ministry sources.
The Minister is expected to meet the CRPF officers for about one and a half hours during which he will oversee the report card of the force. The CRPF will apprise the Minister about its preparedness in Jammu and Kashmir and Maoist-affected areas through a powerpoint presentation.
Shah will also take stock of the situation of other issues related to the paramilitary force that include its internal matters, said the source, requesting anonymity. "It will be Shah's first meeting with CRPF officials at the force's headquarters after he took charge as the Home Minister on June 1."
After meeting the CRPF top brass, it is learnt that the Home Minister will hold similar meetings with other paramilitary forces like the Border Security Force (BSF), the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) in the coming future.
Raised as the Crown Representative's Police in July 1939, the CRPF was given a fresh lease of life soon after Independence when it was renamed and redesigned as the Central Reserve Police Force on December 28, 1949.
It was mandated to secure internal security of the country having multifarious duties which includes fighting insurgency in the northeast, combating terrorism in the Jammu and Kashmir, tackling left-wing extremism (LWE) or Maoism in Central India and maintaining communal harmony all over the country.
Besides this, the force is tasked to guard the Parliament, vital religious installations, protecting the VIPs and more importantly, conducting fair and peaceful elections.
( With inputs from IANS )