Agencies
New Delhi, Mar 11: A total of 339 Army soldiers were killed in last three years in different counter insurgency and counter terrorism operations in Jammu and Kashmir and the northeastern states, Lok Sabha was informed today. As many as 186 Army soldiers died in 2010, 73 in 2011, 78 in 2012 and two died in the current year, Defence Minister A K Antony said in a written reply. "One officer of the Navy from Maharashtra was martyred in 2010 whereas there are no cases of IAF personnel being martyred during this period," he said.
Meanwhile, answering another query, the Defence Minister said based on the inputs from the armed forces, government has identified 14 strategic railway lines for development on priority.
The railway projects are spread in strategic border states of Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and parts of northeastern states.
The rail links include Jodhpur-Jaisalmer, Jammu-Poonch, Dehradun-Uttarkashi, Rishikesh-Karanprayag-Chamoli, Anupgarh-Chhatrgarh-Motigarh-Bikaner and the highly strategic Srinagar-Kargil-Leh project.
In Arunachal Pradesh, rail link is planned to be set up between Tawang-Missamari and Murkongselek-Pasighat-Tezu- Parasuramkund-Rupa.
The railway line between Jodhpur-Jaisalmer is already existing and the survey for its doubling has been completed by the authorities concerned, the Minister said. |
