The top brass of the Assam Rifles, the country's nearly 185-year-old paramilitary force, is opposed to the move to bring it under total control of the Home Ministry, sources in the security establishment said on Wednesday.
The force is likely to convey its strong views to the Home Ministry next week on why the Army should continue to have operational control over the paramilitary, deployed mostly along India's border with Myanmar, they said.
The Army has already red-flagged the proposal by the Home Ministry to bring the Assam Rifles under its operational control, saying it will have serious national security implications including adversely impacting vigil over India's disputed border with China.
"The Assam Rifles is opposed to the Home Ministry's proposal and it will convey its views to the government next week," said a senior military official.
At present, the Home Ministry has the administrative authority over the paramilitary force Assam Rifles while the Army has its operational control.
Sources said a sizeable number of retired Assam Rifles employees were also agitated over the move to shift's the force's operational control from the Army to the Home Ministry.
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The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is likely to examine the Home Ministry's proposal to merge the Assam Rifles with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and bring overall operational control under it.
The nearly 55,000-strong Assam Rifles has been guarding India's 1,640-km long border with Myanmar besides providing operational and logistics support to the Army in keeping a strict vigil in several key sectors along the Sino-India boundary in Arunachal Pradesh.
The Assam Rifles, which was raised in 1835, has also been carrying out counter-insurgency operations in militancy-infested states in the Northeastern region.
The sources said the Home Ministry has already prepared a draft note to be presented at the CCS seeking total control of the Assam Rifles.
Last month, the Army headquarters took up the issue with the Defence Ministry strongly opposing shifting operational control of Assam Rifles to the Home Ministry.
The Army thinks shifting the operational control of the Assam Rifles to the Home Ministry will adversely impact the Army's capability to effectively guard the sensitive border with China when the neighbouring country has been enhancing its military infrastructure along the frontier, sources said.
They said the Assam Rifles provides significant assistance to the Army in keeping strict surveillance over the border with China as it frees up Army units from "static defensive" role.
Around 70 to 80 per cent personnel of the Assam Rifles are deployed in conventional military roles.
The Assam Rifles, at present, has a total of 46 battalions, and most of its units are headed by Army officers since 1884. The Assam Rifles was put under complete operational control of the Army in 1965.
The two-thirds of the overall component of the training imparted to the Assam Rifles personnel are based on conventional warfare so that they can help the Army in times of war, said an official.