Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's wife Gurcharan Kaur Friday asked security forces to identify causes and apply remedies to reduce stress among their personnel.
"Security personnel, like other members of the society, are battling stress and need the help of the family and their organizations to overcome it," Gursharan Kaur said at the opening ceremony of the Annual Welfare Exhibition organized by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Wives' Welfare Association here."Security forces should identify the causes and apply remedies to reduce stress among their personnel," she added.
Lauding the role played by the families of the CRPF personnel, Gursharan Kaur said, "It was only due to the sacrifices and support of the families that they are able to serve the country with such dedication and selflessness."
According to CRPF officials, the root causes of suicides and shootouts among the security forces are long duty hours, remaining disconnected from families and absence of home leave - all leading to high levels of stress.
The CRPF, a paramilitary force, registered 30 suicides and four fratricide cases, in which 10 CRPF troopers died, in 2006 as compared to 19 suicides and five fratricide cases that killed five troopers of the force in 2005.
The force, largely involved in internal security duty, recorded 28 suicides and five incidents of fratricidal killing in 2004.
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