Speed up work on Jagdalpur hospital, Chhattisgarh told

NEW DELHI: After a spate of casualties among the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)’s elite Commando Battalion in Chhattisgarh, the Centre has asked the Bhupesh Baghel-led Congress government to hasten the construction of a super-speciality hospital and trauma centre at Jagdalpur. At present, emergency cases and those injured by IEDs are flown to Raipur with the chances of survival being less due to the delay in transit. The medical facility at Jagdalpur will help cut down travel time by more than 40 minutes, said officials.

The development comes days after a deputy commandant of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) Vikas Kumar, who was injured in an IED blast in Sukma district of Bastar region on Sunday, died due to his injuries in Raipur on Monday. The improvised explosive device (IED), planted by Maoists, exploded when Kumar, along with a team, was in the field as part of the anti-Maoist operations. Vikas was airlifted to a hospital in Raipur. However, he died at around 1am on Monday.

Earlier, another CRPF assistant commandant, Nitin Bhalerao, was killed, while nine commandos were injured in an IED blast on November 29. There is a large presence of security forces in Bastar region, which is at the heart of the Maoist insurgency. According to the MHA official, the multi-speciality hospital at Jagadalpur will cater to 25,000 state police personnel and more than 50,000 CAPF personnel from the CRPF, BSF, ITBP and SSB, deployed in anti-naxal operations.


“The state capital is 300 km from south Bastar and any delay in transit at times results in loss of lives or limbs,” explained an official. Union home minister Amit Shah recently held a review on the anti-naxal operation and sanctioned additional forces for Chhattisgarh.