The Hindu : National : Late import of de-mining vehicles flayed

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Wednesday, Dec 13, 2006
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Late import of de-mining vehicles flayed

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: A Parliamentary panel has slammed the ``fast track'' import of de-mining vehicles that arrived well after the requirement was over. As a result, the vehicles were used for removing just under one per cent of the nearly 10-lakh mines laid during Operation Parakaram, the year-long standoff between India and Pakistan in 2002.

In its report tabled in Parliament on Tuesday, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) noted that the decision to import 40 (later reduced to 24) vehicles was taken 18 months after Operation Parakaram was over and 97 per cent of the 10-lakh mines had been manually removed on the border.

``Needless to say that Army authorities woke up late in the matter of procurement of fast track equipment for de-mining,'' the PAC noted. According to official records, 60 soldiers were killed and 142 injured in mine-laying operations.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence has already asked the Government to investigate and bring to book those guilty for the large number of mine-related deaths during the Operation. A total of 473 Army personnel were killed and 1,401 wounded.

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