By IANS,
New Delhi : A staggering 119 officers and personnel of the central paramilitary forces committed suicide due to various reasons last year, an increase of around 18 percent over 2010, the Lok Sabha was informed Tuesday.
Of those who took their lives last year, 42 were from the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), 39 from the Border Security Force (BSF), 12 from the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB), 11 from the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), nine from Assam Rifles and three each from National Security Guard (NSG) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), Minister of State for Home Affairs Jitendra Singh said in a written reply.
“A court inquiry is conducted in every such incident to ascertain causes and circumstances of suicides committed by personnel. Most of the cases were found to be personal and domestic problems like marital discords, personal enmity, mental illness, depression.
In few cases the same could be owing to the work related stress,” he said.
Singh said measures like regulating duty hours to ensure adequate rest and relief, provision of STD telephone to keep in touch with their family, better medical facilities, yoga, meditation class and recreational activities are provided by respective forces to personnel for reducing their stress levels.
Significantly, the CRPF, which is deployed in the troubled regions along the eastern and western borders, has the maximum number of suicides in the last three years, followed by the BSF. The NSG has reported only three case of suicide in the last three years.