Antony asks district sainik boards to solve soldiers' problems

New Delhi, Nov 10 (UNI) Taking serious note of rising cases of suicides among soldiers in the past 15 days, Defence Minister A K Antony has asked the district sainik boards to reach out to the jawans and their families to look into their problems and reduce stress among them.

''They have been asked to formulate some scheme in this regard,'' Vice-Chief of Army Staff Lt Gen S Pattabhiraman told reporters on the sidelines of a function to announce the celebration of J&K Utsav on November 17 during the India International Trade Fair.

He said the rising number of suicide caess among soldiers this year-- eight in the past 15 days-- was a matter of grave concern, but pointed out that they were lowest in the world.

He said the DIPR has been asked to conduct a study to look into stress-related causes among soldiers.

''The report will be submitted to the government soon, and more steps suggested,'' he added.

To reduce stress among soldiers, that lead to suicides and fragging-- fractricidal killings-- he said that the Army is considering recommending to the government to give relaxation to soldiers in granting leave.

''Instead of giving annual leave in two blocks at present, we are considering split this period in three blocks... further, the leave travel concession shall be applicable to the extended block also....'' The Army was also toying with the idea of raising the percentage of personnel on leave in a unit, the Vice-Chief said.

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