The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) is considering restoring the Army ranks of lance naik and naik, nearly 30 years after abolishing them. The move aims to address promotion delays among personnel and attract retiring Agniveers from the Army, officials said on Saturday.

The CRPF headquarters has asked hundreds of field formations across the country to hold stakeholder meetings, known as 'Sainik Sammelans', and gather personnel's views within two days, officials told PTI.

The force abolished the lance naik and naik ranks in 1997 through a Ministry of Home Affairs order. It merged them with the police ranks of constable and head constable. Both ranks continue to exist in the Army.

Under the earlier hierarchy, a constable became a lance naik after five years of service, a naik after 10 years and a head constable after 20 years. However, promotion stagnation has become a major concern in the CRPF, which has around 3.25 lakh personnel. Constables now wait an average of 22-25 years for their first promotion, leading to widespread grievances.

Officials said restoring the two ranks could provide constables with two additional promotion opportunities before they reach the head constable rank. The move is expected to address dissatisfaction and improve personnel morale.

The proposal also seeks to make the CRPF more attractive to Army Agniveers. The first batch of these short-term recruits, enrolled under the Centre's Agnipath scheme for four years, will begin retiring later this year. They will be eligible to join the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), including the CRPF.

Currently, the CAPFs have an ad hoc arrangement under which constables wear an unofficial senior constable rank insignia, equivalent to lance naik. No similar arrangement exists for the naik rank.

Ranbir Singh, Secretary General of the Ex-Paramilitary Personnel Association, said the proposal would benefit personnel only if it ensured time-bound promotions. Otherwise, the exercise would prove futile.

A senior CRPF commandant said the reintroduction of the two Army ranks should "not just be a cosmetic move and should ensure that the discipline of the battalion is maintained".

The CRPF and the Border Security Force previously followed the Army's infantry battalion rank structure. A battalion with more than 1,000 personnel currently has over 20 subordinate officers. The commandant said any policy change must consider the unit's regimentation and operational efficiency.