Defence Minister Rajnath Singh reviews operational & COVID19 preparedness of Armed Forces

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday reviewed the operational preparedness as well as measures to fight COVID-19 with all the Commanders in Chief through a video conference.

General
Bipin Rawat, Chief of Defence Staff and Secretary DMA, General M M Naravane,
Chief of Army Staff, Admiral Karambir Singh, Chief of Navy Staff, Air Chief
Marshal R K S Bhadauria, Chief of Air Staff, Defence Secretary Dr. Ajay Kumar
and Secretary Defence (Finance) Gargi Kaul participated in the Conference.

Defence
Minister in his address appreciated the role of the Armed Forces for the
assistance extended to the local civilian administration and preparatory
measures taken to fight COVID-19. Rajnath Singh expected the forces to ensure
their operational preparedness, while they are battling COVID 19 and the
adversary should not be allowed to exploit the current situation.

He
also directed the forces to initiate measures to spend the financial resources,
avoiding wastage in view of the economic burden imposed by COVID-19. He asked the
Commanders in Chief to identify and prioritise  tasks that could be
accomplished  quickly and assist in revival of the economy after the
lockdown is lifted.

During
the conference the Commanders in Chief appraised the Defence Minister of
various measures put in place by them to prevent virus infection among the
forces and assistance extended to the local civilian administration. These
include issue of SoPs on COVID-19, introduction of appropriate modifications in
protocols and drills as per the advisories issued by Ministry of Health and
other agencies and taking care of the Ex-Servicemen and their families residing
in their respective command areas.

The
Commanders appreciated recent devolution of emergency financial powers by the
Ministry of Defence that has ensured timely procurement of necessary medical
supplies, to bolster the health infrastructure of the hospitals.

The
Armed Forces have in a holistic manner taken upon themselves the responsibility
of improving the support in dealing with COVID, by augmenting additional
manpower, by providing them basic training, to deal with the epidemic. 

The
Commanders have apprised that isolation and quarantine facilities have been set
up for use of the Forces as well as the local civilian administration. They
have also expressed readiness to pitch in to maintain essential services
locally if requested by the civilian administration.

Officers
from Northern Command, Udhampur; Eastern Command, Kolkata; Southern Naval
Command, Kochi; Western Naval Command, Mumbai; Southern Command, Pune;
South-Western Command,  Jaipur; Western Air Command, Delhi; Eastern Naval
Command, Vizag; Central Air Command, Allahabad; South-West Air Command, Gandhi
Nagar; Southern Air Command, Trivendrum; Central Command, Lucknow; and  Andaman
& Nicobars Command, Port Blair  participated in the video Conference.