The first deployment of the Railway’s commando unit CORAS will be in the Naxal-hit areas of Chhattisgarh, RPF DG Arun Kumar said on Wednesday.
He said a new state-of-the-art facility will be built in Haryana’s Jagadhari city to train CORAS commandos.
Speaking at the launch of the Commandos for Railway Safety (CORAS), Railway Minister Piyush Goyal said he had approved the setting up of the institute and instructed the Railway Protection Force (RPF) to provide them with training of international standards.
“CORAS’ first deployment will be in naxal-hit Chattisgarh. They will also be deployed in areas where railway has major ongoing projects which need security like northeastern States and Jammu and Kashmir,” the director general of the RPF said.
The unit is being envisaged as a responder for any situation pertaining to damage, disturbance, disruption of train operations, attack/hostage/hijack, disaster situations in railway areas, he said.
Comprising RPF and Railway Protection Special Force (RPSF) personnel, the CORAS is headed by the RPF DG and is armed with special uniforms with bullet-proof jackets, helmets and sophisticated weapons, Mr. Kumar said.
The officer said there are 14 battalions of the RPSF and one of its battalion had been converted into CORAS. The men of CORAS have been trained in the NSG academy and Greyhounds, he said.
Greyhounds specialises in anti-insurgency operations against Naxalites. CORAS commandos will be undergoing training programmes, including basic and advanced commando courses with specialisation in handling landmines and improvised explosive devices, hostage rescue, sniping and breaching.
