Articial limbs presented to land mine victims

Chandigarh, Oct 6 (UNI) In an initiative aimed at providing succour to land mine casualties, Western Command Army chief Lt Gen Daljeet Singh today presented artificial limbs to 17 civilians, including three women, at Yol Cantonment in Himachal Pradesh.

Taking personal interest towards the welfare of those who had accidentally got affected by mine blasts, Gen Singh had directed the Artificial Limbs Centre, Command Hospital at Chandimandir to manufacture artificial limbs for these persons, an Army spokesman here said.

The rising Star Corps then sent these persons to the centre for measurement before manufacture of artificial limbs and the efforts of the centre, formations and the individuals have now fruitfully culminated into proper design and manufacture of properly fitting artificial limbs.

Earlier, the Army had also taken up the case of all theseland mine casualties with the Ministry of Defence for providing financial compensation.

Besides undertaking measures for civilian welfare and Border Area Development, the Army has always shown its concern to the civilians who suffered injuries due to land mines. Civilians are sometimes exposed to war like conditions due to various operations conducted by the Army.

The mines had been laid during Operation Parakram in certain important areas due to security requirements and circumstantial needs. Although the Army had made utomost efforts to retrieve these mines, certain mines got drifted due to vagaries of the weather and terain configuration resulting in injury to certain civilians residing in border areas when they ventured into these areas.

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