NE NEWS SERVICE
NEW DELHI, APRIL 24
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday directed the top military brass to ensure that India”s adversaries do not get any opportunity to push their “evil design” by taking advantage of the country’s focus on fighting the coronavirus pandemic, officials said.
Reviewing India’s military preparedness at a high-level meeting attended by General Bipin Rawat, Chief of Defence Staff and Secretary DMA, General M M Naravane, Chief of Army Staff, Admiral Karambir Singh, Chief of Navy Staff, Air Chief Marshal R K S Bhadauria, Chief of Air Staff, Defence Secretary Dr. Ajay Kumar and Secretary Defence (Finance) Gargi Kaul, Singh also asked the armed forces to avoid wasteful expenditure and make sure judicious utilisation of funds considering the downturn in the economy triggered by the pandemic, they said.
#IndiaFightsCorona
સંરક્ષણ મંત્રી શ્રી રાજનાથ સિંહે આજે વીડિયો કોન્ફરન્સ દ્વારા તમામ કમાન્ડર્સ ઇન ચીફ સાથે #COVID19 સામે સંઘર્ષ માટે તમામ પગલાંઓ અને કાર્યકારી તૈયારીની સમીક્ષા કરી હતી.
વધુ વિગતો માટે વાંચો👇https://t.co/287TfuWPwq pic.twitter.com/BAoGxeavsy— PIB in Gujarat 🇮🇳 (@PIBAhmedabad) April 24, 2020
The top army brass apprised Singh about the situation along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir as well along the nearly-3,500 KM frontier with China.
Navy Chief Admiral Karambir Singh briefed the defence minister about the overall situation in the Indian Ocean region where China has been increasingly deploying warships and submarines.
Notwithstanding the single-point focus of almost all the countries in the region to fight the coronavirus pandemic, Pakistan has been unrelenting in its efforts to push militants into Jammu and Kashmir, the officials said.
#NationalCadetCorps #Gujarat #Viramgam #26GujBn SD cadets of DCM College distributed handstitched masks 2 workers & common ppl #ExNCCYogdan #COVID19 #CoronaWarriors #MaskIndia #MoDAgainstCorona @SpokespersonMoD@HQ_DG_NCC @PIBAhmedabad @InfoGujarat pic.twitter.com/gjyHgy5Gsv
— PRO Defence Gujarat (@DefencePRO_Guj) April 24, 2020
On Wednesday, Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Dilbag Singh said Pakistan was sending militants infected with COVID-19 into Kashmir to spread the disease among the people of the valley.
“Singh expected the forces to ensure their operational preparedness, while they are battling COVID-19 and that the adversary should not be allowed to exploit the current situation,” a defence ministry said in a statement.
#NationalCadetCorps #Gujarat #RajkotGroup #2GujGirlsBn #ExNCCYogdan senior wing cadets of Muni Mahila College #Gondal distributed handmade masks in rural areas. Spread awareness about #COVID19 #MoDAgainstCorona @SpokespersonMoD@HQ_DG_NCC @PIBAhmedabad @InfoGujarat pic.twitter.com/Ru42Sxlouw
— PRO Defence Gujarat (@DefencePRO_Guj) April 23, 2020
Top military commanders from key commands of the Army, the Navy and the Indian Air Force across the country also attended the meeting through video- conference.
In the meeting, the defence minister asked the top military brass to identify and prioritise tasks that could help in revival of the economy after the lockdown is lifted, besides emphasising on the need for ensuring jointness among the three services, officials said.
The commanders appreciated recent devolution of emergency financial powers granted to them by the defence ministry, saying the decision has ensured timely procurement of necessary medical supplies to bolster the health infrastructure of the military hospitals, they said.
#NationalCadetCorps #Gujarat #Surendranagar #26GujBn #ExNCCYogdan Cadets of Maharishi Gurukul #Halwad undertook stitching of masks & distributed amongst common people. #COVID19 #CoronaWarriors #MoDAgainstCorona @SpokespersonMoD@HQ_DG_NCC @PIBAhmedabad @InfoGujarat pic.twitter.com/tlEkkkiyS4
— PRO Defence Gujarat (@DefencePRO_Guj) April 23, 2020
In the conference, the commanders appraised the minister about various measures put in place by them to prevent coronavirus infection among the forces and the assistance extended to the local civilian administration to deal with the pandemic, the ministry said.
“These include the issue of standard operating procedure on COVID-19, the introduction of appropriate modifications in protocols and drills as per the advisories issued by Ministry of Health and other agencies and taking care of the ex-servicemen and their families residing in their respective command areas,” the ministry said.
PLEASE RETWEET#IndiaFightsCorona
COVID-19 के खिलाफ लड़ाई में भारतीय वायुसेना का सहयोग.@IAF_MCC @DRDO_India @ICMRDELHI #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/5BG9d6Rlpu
— Doordarshan National दूरदर्शन नेशनल (@DDNational) April 22, 2020
It said the armed forces also expressed readiness to pitch in to maintain essential services, locally, if requested by civilian administrations.
The armed force has been playing a key role in the country’s fight against the pandemic which has killed over 700 people and infected more than 23,000.
Three trainee soldier craftsmen test positive for Coronavirus
Three soldier craftsmen undergoing training at the Military Station in Vadodara have tested positive for coronavirus, officials said on Friday.
This is the first instance in Gujarat wherein members of armed forces have been infected with coronavirus, which has claimed over 100 lives in the state so far.
These trainee soldiers were admitted to government-run SSG Hospital in Vadodara, over 100km from here, on April 22 after their medical reports came positive for COVID-19, said a statement issued by Defence PRO for Gujarat, Puneet Chadha.
“Three soldier craftsmen undergoing training at the Military Station in Baroda (Vadodara) tested COVID-19 positive on April 22.
“All protocols were followed and necessary actions taken by the Army authorities. All three jawans have been admitted to SSG Hospital,” the statement said, adding that the military station premises was sanitised by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) after these cases emerged.
As many as 40 persons, who came in contact with these jawans, have been home quarantined as a precautionary measure.
According to the VMC officials, these trainee soldiers are from Madhya Pradesh and came to Vadodara for training well before the lockdown was imposed last month.
Vadodara Municipal Commissioner N B Upadhyay refuted the theory that the soldiers contracted the infection at a nearby ATM centre.
“We find no credence in that theory. If the ATM was the culprit, then we would have received many more cases, which is not the case at present,” Upadhyay said.
Forty persons, who came in their contact in and outside the military station, have been put under home quarantine, he added.
#NationalCadetCorps #Gujarat #Surendranagar #ExNCCYogdan NCC personnel #26GujBn distributed food packets to the poor. #MoDAgainstCorona @SpokespersonMoD @HQ_DG_NCC @PIBAhmedabad @airnews_abad @DDNewsGujarati @CMOGuj pic.twitter.com/oeAJWCkORn
— PRO Defence Gujarat (@DefencePRO_Guj) April 22, 2020
Army engineer airlifted from Afghanistan undergoes hip replacement in Hyderabad
An engineer of the Indian Army, who was airlifted from Afghanistan, underwent hip replacement surgery at Continental Hospital in Hyderabad.
The 44-year-old logistics engineer, who was airlifted from Afghanistan’s Bagram on Tuesday night, was successfully operated upon by a team of experts led by Dr Ram Mohan Reddy Venuthurla, Senior Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon and Dr Nitish Bhan, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon.
The patient, who was posted in Afghanistan, had a fall about three weeks back and suffered a fracture in the right hip. He was not able to get the best healthcare support in Afghanistan nor could he be shifted out of the war-torn nation because India stopped all international and domestic flights to prevent further spread of COVID-19.
He was finally brought to Hyderabad in an air ambulance, which landed at Hyderabad Airport on Tuesday night.
According to Dr Venuthurla, the engineer was admitted to the Continental Hospitals immediately after he was brought to Hyderabad. “Considerable time has lapsed since he suffered the fracture. Therefore, we are closely monitoring the health condition of the patient. We investigated him thoroughly before the surgery. The hip-replacement surgery was done successfully by the team. The surgical team took all the necessary safety measures like wearing PPEs, N95 face masks as part of infection control,” he said.
