CRPF jawan dies of malaria, 70 mates lodged in hospital

RANCHI: CRPF jawan Birendra Kumar Saini of 206 battalion died of malarial fever while being evacuated from the Saranda forest to the Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS). A total of 70 jawans of Jharkhand police and the CRPF have been hospitalized.
All the sick jawans were engaged in Operation Monsoon, one of India’s longest anti-Naxalie operations launched on August 1 in the Saranda forest.The jawans are undergoing treatment at the isolation ward of the RIMS and the Apollo Hospital and their condition is being monitored by a team of doctors, RIMS director Tulsi Mahto said.
The condition of 11 admitted to the Apollo is serious and they are not showing any sign of improvement.
On Sunday, CRPF IG D K Pandey and DIG (operation) Bhanu Pratap Singh visited the RIMS and enquired about the health of jawans from doctors. The RIMS director was along with them.
Annoyed at the growing number of jawans down with malaria, a CRPF officer tried to stop mediapersons from entering the hospital was later involved in a scuffle with the scribes. The matter was resolved after senior officers intervened.
The Saranda forest, which is one of the Asia’s biggest sal forests that spread across 700 hills in Jharkhand and Orissa, is largely considered to be a malarial-prone area. In the past 20 days, around 60 companies of the CRPF and Jharkhand police are engaged in flushing out the Maoists from the forest. Not a single jawan has been killed in the past 20 days by the rebels, but over 50 jawans have fallen ill after being bitten by mosquitos which are wrecking havoc in the rain-soaked forest.
Raining in the Saranda forest, which is making the path for jawans difficult as they move on foot across the thick vegetation of forests. Eight rebels camp, including a camp spread in five acres, was destroyed by security forces in the past 20 days and over 16 Maoists have been arrested so far.
"Jawans have been briefed to take precautions from mosquitoes like using of repellants and medicines. All of them have been provided with malaria testing kit and whoever is tested positive is immediately evacuated by helicopter as soon as possible and admitted to hospital," said DIG Naveen Kumar Singh.
This is not the first time that security personnel have been fighting malaria. Earlier jawans and officers deployed in the state for smooth conduct of elections have also fallen ill. Two jawans of Naga Armed Force deployed in state for conducting assembly election died in 2009.