Center begins pulling back 500 CAPF companies from West Bengal
India
The Center is gradually pulling back 500 Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) companies from West Bengal, saying the security situation has improved since the assembly elections.
The withdrawal is happening in phases; close to 100 companies are leaving first, and the rest will follow based on how things look on the ground.
Peak Bengal deployment exceeded 2,400 companies
These CAPF teams included personnel from CRPF, BSF, CISF, ITBP, and SSB.
They were retained in Bengal for post-poll security duties; at one point, over 2,400 companies of armed personnel drawn from CAPFs, state armed police, and India Reserve battalions were deployed to keep things under control.
Now that things are calmer, officials say it's time for close to 100 of them to head back.