Govt plans to procure bulletproof jackets for para-military forces - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

The Government has proposed to procure procure bullet proof jackets for the paramilitary forces (PMFs). In a written reply to a question on Tuesday in Lok Sabha Minister of State in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Mullappallay Ramachandran, stated: "The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has been designated as the lead force to procure 59,000 Light Weight Bullet Proof Jackets (BPJs) for 6 Central Para Military Forces, viz. CRPF Central Industrial Security Force, Indo-Tibetan Border Police, National Security Guard, Seema Suraksha Bal & Assam Rifles." "The CRPF floated an open tender on 3.7.09 under a 2 bid system of procurement. The terms of tender enquiry stipulated testing of tender samples for short listing of the acceptable bidders." The minister has informed that proper testing procedures including ballistic tests were carried out under the overall control and supervision of Technical Evaluation Committee (TEC) under the DG, Bureau of Police Research &Development. As informed by the TEC, the following procedures were followed: (i) Physical Evaluation- For weight measurement & counting of number of layers, checking of certificates & declaration of material etc. at CRPF Headquarters. (ii) Fabric Evaluation- For Ultra-violet test, waterproof test, water penetration test and inflammability tests by Department of Textiles, IIT, Delhi. (iii) Area Measurement Test- For area measurement of various components of soft Armour Panels (SAP) by Survey of India, New Delhi. (iv) Ballistic Evaluation- For test firing against different threat levels by Terminal Ballistic Research Laboratory (TBRL), Chandigarh. Stating further in his written reply, Ramachandran said that the successful completion of this tender process will meet the present projected demand for the Light-Weight Bullet Proof Jackets by the PMFs.