Bastar (Chhattisgarh): The severely Naxal affected areas of the Bastar division will have some reprieve as the administration is constructing 24-hour landing helipads in the Bastar. Construction on 18 helipads is already underway. The new helipads will enable helicopters to land during the night and this will provide timely assistance to soldiers deployed in the area.
Along with this, during elections in Bastar, polling personnel can also be dropped at polling stations with the help of helicopters in the Naxal affected areas and brought back from there.
In the past, soldiers faced a lot of problems during police-Naxal encounters, elections, in delivering ration to the polling parties and jawans, all due to the absence of helipads in these areas. But now the construction of helipads will provide a lot of relief to the soldiers in these Naxal-affected areas.
18 helipads to be built in Naxal affected areas of 7 districts
GR Rawate, Chief Engineer, Public Works Department said that it has been decided to construct 18 helipads in the severely Naxal affected areas of 7 districts in the division. The helipads are being constructed at a total cost of Rs 4.41 crores, with each helipad costing about Rs 21 lakhs. The Chief Engineer said that three selected sites out of 18 have been cancelled, whereas 3 places are being relocated. At the same time, the construction work of some helipads has also started. All these helipads will be ready within next 6 months.
Soldiers could not get the facility of air ambulance
The Inspector-General of Police for Bastar Range, Sundarraj Pattilingam said that the construction of these helipads will give relief to the soldiers who are risking their lives in the most Naxal-affected areas.
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It has been seen in most of the cases that the soldiers who were injured due to bullet injuries couldn't get air ambulance due to lack of helipad facility, due to which many soldiers lost their live, at times.
Night landing will help the soldiers
Being a Naxal affected area, it is very difficult to land a helicopter in the area. Despite this, many times, pilots have made helicopter landings amidst such rugged and dense forests and have saved the lives of the soldiers. However, the new helipads will make such operations easy and safe. The 24-hour night landing facility will also provide a lot of convenience to the soldiers in the anti-Naxal operations.
