CRPF cooks to train under chefs of 5-star hotels

New Delhi: Something is cooking in the country's largest paramilitary force CRPF! The proverb amply suits the about 2.5-lakh personnel force as more than 12,000 cooks in the forces' 200 battalions will be sent to train under the chefs of five-star hotels run by the India Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) to learn to prepare delicious and nutritious food for the jawans and officers of the paramilitary.

An exclusive training centre--School of Catering—has also been created at the forces' campus in Bangalore to train these men before they are deputed with the various battalions of the force deployed for a variety of tasks ranging from conducting anti-Naxal and counter-insurgency operations to rendering law and order duties.

"A nutritious and delicious diet is the least that a trooper deployed at a far-flung area can expect. The school of catering will train our 12,000 cooks to prepare healthy food and keep our men hale and hearty," CRPF Additional Director General (Training) K Pathak said.

Pathak said the cooks will not only be trained with the chefs of ITDC-run five-star hotels but also renowned culinary masters will be invited to train the men at their campus in Bangalore.

In the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), each battalion (about 1,000 personnel) has about 10-11 cooks who prepare food for their units every day.

The force, through its new school of cooking and catering, also aims to change the regular menu to a more healthy food platter which will include a diet rich in proteins and carbohydrates.

"The cooks also prepare the feast for the unit on occasions like 'sainik sammelan' and 'badakhaana' (grand banquet) and this is the time when troops celebrate with their buddies and officers. A delicious menu by the newly trained cooks would only add to the event," a CRPF official said.

The force recently has also created six new institutions to hone the operational and intelligence gathering skills of its troops.

The new schools are in various parts of the country-Indian Institute of IED Management in Pune, dogs breeding and training centre in Karnataka's Taralu, intelligence school in Gurgaon's Kadarpur, RAF training school and training of trainers school in Uttar Pradesh's Meerut and college of insurgency and jungle craft in Belgaum in Karnataka.