On 14 May, this year, terrorists attacked a civil bus and family quarters of JCO/ORs at Kaluchak. On receiving information, the Station Quick Reaction Medical Team was activated. Ambulances with first-aid teams rushed to the site for emergency life saving medical intervention and quick evacuation of casualties. Altogether, 71 causalties including civilans were evacuated out of which 48 were severely injured with multiple gun shot wounds and splinter injuries. Twenty three were declared brought dead on arrival at 166 Military Hospital. Disaster management protocol was followed. With prompt triage and emergency resuscitations, all patients were managed by a dedicated team of medical professionals. Three surgical teams of the hospital were pressed into action. A fourth surgical team from 170 Military Hospital was rushed and these teams operated upon the patients continuously till mid-night. Comprehensive medication of each and every patient was ensured round-the-clock.

A large number of VIPs including the Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, leaders of the Opposition parties, Governor and Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir visited the Military Hospital. They all appreciated the prompt and comprehensive medicare delivered with compassion and devotion by all ranks of 166 Military Hospital.

Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes visited 2 Mountain Artillery Brigade in the Gajraj Corps Zone. The Minister was received at the helipad in Misa Cantt by Lt Gen JS Varma, GOC, 4 Corps and Brig HS Sandhu, Commander, 2 Mountain Artillery Brigade.

Mr Fernandes was briefed in detail by Brig HS Sandhu on the state of militancy in his area of responsibility and operation Samaritan projects that are being conducted by his formation. While speaking to the men on the occasion, Mr Fernandes appreciated their dedication to duty and said that the entire nation is grateful to the ‘men in uniform’ for their dedication, hardwork and self-less sacrifice. He expressed anguish over the killing of helpless women and children at Kaluckak, and said they were the most barbaric and inhuman acts that he had ever come across. The Defence Minister then witnessed a short cultural show and joined in a barakhana with the troops.

Later, Mr Fernandes visited 51 Field Regiment in Gajraj Crops Zone. Col Rajesh Kumar, Commanding Officer, 51 Field Regiment briefed him on the prevailing situation in his sector. This was followed by an informal interaction with the men and a barakhana organised by 51Field Regiment in the honour of the Minister.

Later, after receiving a warm farewell by all ranks the Minister left for Guwahati.

For the welfare of ex-servicemen and their dependants, Uttar Pradesh Purva Sainik Kalyan Nigam in Lucknow has evolved a number of programmes and courses, including security industrial training, fire fighting course, tailoring, stitching, embroidery courses, software training, coaching for NDA/CDS/MBA and also shorthand and typing courses, ranging from one week to one year.

The Nigam through Zila Sainik Kalyan officials has informed ex-servicemen and those retiring in the near future about these courses. The candidates are required to pay a nominal fee and most of the expenditure is borne by the Nigam.

Presently being managed by Brig (Retd) RD Singh, the Nigam has been doing a yeoman service in providing employment to ex-servicemen since its inception in 1989. It has also been taking some steps to rehabilitate the widows of ex-servicemen and their dependant family members. It has so far provided employment to approximately 7500 ex-servicemen in PSUs such as GAIL, VSNL, Power Grids, Power Corporation etc in the form of security, technical, and other Para Medical Services.

Lt Gen S Choudhary, Army Commander, Army Training Command visited the College of Materials Management (CMM), Jabalpur as part of annual technical inspection. He was received by Lt Gen RS Shahrawat, Commandant, CMM.

The Army Commander, during his visit, was briefed on the various aspects of college training and administration. He visited various training faculties, namely, Faculty of Computer Technology, Faculty of Munitions, Faculty of Technical Stores and Faculty of Management studies.

Lt Gen Choudhary evinced keen interest in the innovative pedagogy being used by the college to impart instructions to the students. He also overviewed the steps taken by the college towards proliferation of information technology and appreciated the efforts made towards establishing a campus wide ‘Local Area Network’ called cmm net.

Lt Gen Choudhary also visited the Army Ordnance Corps Museum at the CMM and appreciated the rare artefacts and the archives. He commended Lt Gen RS Shahrawat and all functionaries of the college and lauded the high standards maintained by them.

The Coast Guard organised a free medical camp in collaboration with the State Government of Tamil Nadu at Phuleket, 50 km from Chennai. During the day-long camp manned by a dozen of doctors and specialists from the Coast Guard and the General Hospital, Chennai, about 1000 persons were screened for various ailments. The needy among them were referred to the General Hospital. Hepatitis-B was administered to about 300 persons and triple antigen and polio vaccine to over 600.

Mrs Mangala Vasan, wife of
Cmde RS Vasan, Commander, Coast Guard Region (East) inaugurated the camp and distributed free medicines to the patients. Commandant KPN Raghuvanshi, Commander, District Headquarters (Tamil Nadu), in his introductory speech said that the free medical camp was part of the Coast Guard’s efforts to have effective interaction with fishermen community during its current year-long silver jubilee celebrations.

A week-long Lead Auditors’ Course on ISO 9000: 2000 version of Quality Management System for effecting changeover in various ordnance factories was concluded at the Ordnance Factories Staff College (OFSC), Ambajhari.

In his presidential address, Principal Director OFSC, Mr AO Abraham said that the ordnance factories have been stressing on implementation of the ISO system of quality management in their quality certification process. He said that nearly 200 officers of ordnance factories have been trained to take up designing quality system and implementing and auditing of ISO 9000:2000 version in their respective factories.

The guest faculty from Quality Managment Institute (India), New Delhi, Col (Retd) BJ Singh expressed satisfaction over the efforts taken by the ordnance factories and the performance of the participating officers.

In his valedictory address, the Member Personnel at the Ordnance Factory Board Kolkata, Mr V Kumaraswamy advised the participants to take up the task of bringing a change in the quality management system. He said that the quality policy of every organisation should focus on the customers and stressed the need to take up the latest ISO version to achieve greater acceptability amongst customers.

-Wg Cdr SN Mukerjee
from Nagpur

The new Southern Air Command Chief, Air Marshal TM Asthana called on the Chief Minister of Kerala Mr AK Antony at the Chief Minister’s office in the Secretariat.

This is the first meeting of the Air Marshal TM Asthana with the Chief Minister after assuming the command of Southern Air Command recently.

The District Collector responded with an aid package for the children which included text and notebooks and other amenities. The Army has decided to continue the programme until regular teaching staff is provided to the school.

Lt Gen DS Chauhan, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Central Command, inaugurated Central Command Backbone Network at the Central Command Signal Centre complex in Lucknow Cantonment.

Phase-1 of the network is complete. It has revolutionised the communication infrastructure in Central Command besides enabling direct dialling to 12 locations in the command.

Briefing the GOC-in-C, Col HK Trivedi, Commanding Officer, Central Command Signal Regiment, explained that value added services like data, video and image streaming can be enabled simultaneously over this network. Moreover, voice compression and dynamic allocation of bandwidth have resulted in optical utilisation of bandwidth and critical hardware resources thereby offering significant cost savings. The Army telephone directory of Lucknow was released on the occasion.

Maj Gen GB Tripathi, Chief Signal Officer, Central Command and Brig DM Tripathi, Deputy CSO Central Command were also present amongst others.

Sorbung is a remote village in Southern Ukhrul under Phuyngyer Sub division. It has a population of about 800 people. During the first visit of Brig V Suresh Nair, Commander 10 sector to the village, the villagers had requested for construction of a water storage tank in the village. The villagers had lamented that the nearest water source was about one kilometre away and also it took a long time to fill even one bucket of water as the water flow was inadequate. The Army provided required building material for construction of the tank and exhorted villagers to construct the tank with necessary technical help from Assam Rifles.

It was indeed heartening to note the enthusiasm of the villagers who worked tirelessly to complete the construction of water tank. Assistance, both technical and material, was provided by 25 Assam Rifles and the water tank was inaugurated a at function held at Sorbung village. The project is an ideal example of villagers’ willingness to be self-sufficient and their dedication towards development of their village.

Mrs Ira Yadav, President, Army Wives Welfare Association, Maharashtra and Gujarat Area, Mumbai inaugurated a heart care camp at Central MI Room at Colaba in Mumbai.

A team of doctors from the CTC Pune screened over 200 ladies belonging to Army families for heart and heart-related ailments in this two-day camp.

Besides, a health exhibition on heart care was also organised during the camp wherein families were educated and imparted health education regarding prevention of heart diseases.

A two-day workshop for leaders of Sagar Rakshak Dal (SRD) was inaugurated at the Naval Auditorium in INS Angre by Mr Asoke Basak, Additional Chief Secretary (Home).
Mr KP Raghuvanshi, Inspector General of Police, Konkan range was also present on the occasion.

After the Mumbai bomb blasts of 1993, it was realised that policing the entire 750, km coastline of Maharashtra would not be possible without the help of people of coastal villages. The Home Department of Government of Maharashtra, therefore, organised volunteers from selected villages to form a ‘Sagar Rakshak Dal’ to keep a watch on undesirable activities on the coastline and inform authorities concerned. Each Dal consists of 10-15 members with a nominated leader. The local beat constable serves as their liaison officer. The service is purely voluntary. However, the Government of Maharashtra is also considering giving some incentives in the form of identity card, uniform etc for members of SRD.

The Indian Navy conducts training for villagers from coastal districts every year through naval detachments that have been set up all along the coast. To motivate the members of the Sagar Rakshak Dal (SRD), 50 selected leaders had been invited to Mumbai for this special workshop. All expenditure connected with their visit was borne by the Headquarters, Western Naval Command in Mumbai. These leaders were also taken onboard a naval ship and submarine.

The workshop was conducted under the aegis of Rear Admiral Nirmal Verma, Flag Officer Commanding, Maharashtra Naval Area.

Lt Gen JS Varma, GOC, 4 Corps inaugurated the new accommodation complex for Gajraj Corps HQ at Tezpur. Speaking on this occasion, Lt Gen Verma said that all efforts are being made to ensure that the men have a comfortable stay in the new premises.

The living accommodation is in a triple-storied building, built on the modern concept of cubicles which is to be shared by two men each. It is well-furnished with the facilities of a JCOs’ club and Quarter-guard.

Mrs Kaumudi Kumari, President, Navy Wives Welfare Association (NWWA) visited the EME Archives & Museum located at Secunderabad. The Archives & Museum, presently housed in a 1871 vintage building was originally used as barracks for the troops of British Royal Horse Artillery. It was established in 1960 and renovated to the present state in 1993. The institution is a place of pride for all personnel of the Corps of EME. It houses the training institution, the Military College of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering and one of EME Centres in the station.

Mrs Roopa Padmanabhan, President, AWWA inaugurated the first ‘Palm Grove Girls Hostel’ in the ATNKK & G Area in Chennai. The hostel provides boarding and lodging facilities at reasonable rates to the daughters of serving personnel and ex-servicemen for pursuing higher studies. In her inaugural address,
Mrs Padmanabhan announced a grant of Rs 5 lakh for augmenting the facilities in the hostel. She also desired that the strength of the hostel be increased to 100.

Maj Gen Jamwal GoC, ATNKK & G area, in his address said that an hostel for boys and girls would come up soon in Secunderabad and another one in Bangalore. He also outline the
projects launched for the welfare of ex-servicemen including the Assured Decent Last Rites Scheme under which about 200 ex-servicemen have so far been given final salute.

Brig BK Unnikrishnan, Station Commander, Chennai said that the aim of the project ‘Palm Grove Hostel’ is to provide quality environment to the daughters of service and ex-service personnel for pursuing higher studies. A library, internet cafe, phone facility and a health centre would be setup in the hostel, he added.

Brig SR Kamtikar, DDMS, Brig PK Mehta, DDST, ATNKK & G Area, Brig KS Rampuria, Chief Engineer, Chennai Zone, and Cmde PP Singh, DDG, NCC Directorate were also present on the occasion.

Lt Gen HS Kanwar, Chief of Staff, Western Command visited Branch Recruiting Office (BRO) Hamirpur in Himachal Pradesh. The Lieutenant General was briefed by Col KG Menon, Recruiting Officer on the open recruitment rally system and other aspects of recruitment and administration.

During his visit to the Branch Recruiting Office, Lt Gen Kanwar alloted one computer to the office and also made a financial grant of Rs 10,000 for welfare activities of all ranks.

Later, the Lieutent General interacted with ex-servicemen to acquaint himself with their problems.

The General officer also visited the MI Room established for ex-servicemen and held discussions with the Director, Sainik Welfare and Chairman, Ex-servicemen Corporation.

Two Nag missiles have been launched satisfactorily from Interim Test Range, Balasore. The trajectory of both trials was fully tracked throughout the flight and telemetry data has been received. The detailed analysis is in progress. These were the 43rd and 44th test launches of the Nag missile.

Nag is a third generation anti-tank missile system with "fire and forget" and "top attack" capabilites. The state-of-the-art imaging infra Red homing guidance system has lock-on-before-launch capability for day and night operation. A smokeless nitramine based propellant has been developed for the Nag. The missile is carried either on "namica" (Traced ICV) or the Advanced Light Helicopter.

-PIB(DW)

The 10-day inter-Battalion Aquatic Championship-2002 of AMC Centre and School in Lucknow Cantonment was concluded at the Central Command Swimming Pool.

Scoring the maximum of 100 points, No. 1 Technical Training Battalion annexed the championship trophy of the meet. No. 2 Military Training Battalion emerged runners-up followed by No. 1 MT Battalion. Combined team finished fourth and No. 2 TT Battalion ranked fifth.

Rect NB Singh and Rect SK Yadav, both from the No 1 TT Bn, won 100-M Free Style and 100-M Breast Stroke events respectively. Rect Bhupinder of No. 2 TT won 100M Back Stroke.

The victorious team also won the team event 4 x 100-M free Style relay race. The 50-M Free Style race for officers and JCOs was won by Lt TG Singh of the Combined team. 25-M Children’s race was won by Master Pankaj Singh, son of Sub Sardar Singh.

Lt Gen SP Malhotra, Commandant of AMC Centre and School, distributed prizes to the recipients at the conclusion of the championship.
Col Ved Prakash received the championship trophy on behalf of the champion team of No. 1 TT and the trophy for the runners-up team was received by Lt Col Raj Mohan.

 -Maj Dhirendra Ojha
from Lucknow

Eight Sector, Rashtriya Rifles organised the second inter-village cricket tournament in Chuppur village. Thirtytwo teams representing different villages of Lolab participated in the tournament. Matches were played on league-cum-knock-out basis. The tournament was inaugurated by Brig AM Verma, Commander, 8 Sector, Rashtriya Rifles.

Over 1000 spectators witnessed the inaugural match which was played between Chuppur Cricket Club and Young Heroes Cricket Club, Varranau. The exciting series of matches culminated in the finals in which Dewar A defeated Badibera by 2 wickets.
Brig AM Verma distributed prizes to the winners and speaking on the occasion, he called upon the people of Lolab to join hands in the fight against terrorism and usher in a era for prosperity of Lolab. This tournament, conducted for the second year, has inspired the masses of Lolab besides instilling confidence among the youngsters.