Army's response to J-K floods was spontaneous: Army chief

Chief of Army Staff General Dalbir Singh on Tuesday lauded the efforts of the army during the recent devastating floods in Jammu and Kashmir, and said the army's response was spontaneous despite having their own people being affected by the floods.

"As far as the floods in Jammu and Kashmir are concerned, our response was very spontaneous despite having our own people being affected by the floods. In fact, when I visited some areas, there were at least ten to 12 feet of water, but that did not deter our people; they went out to support the public," said the army chief.

"Almost 160,000 people were evacuated by us. They were provided medical aid, food, water and all the support that they needed. We also mobilized all the support from all over the country to support the relief operations," he added.

Further, the army chief also lauded the country's sportsmen for doing exceedingly well in various events.

"Our sportsmen during the year have done exceedingly well. Their efforts need to be appreciated. At the international level, we got 12 golds, 80 silvers and 22 bronze medals. The effort is to that we must do better," said the army chief.

"The Olympics is on track, definitely we intend to bring more glory to the nation in 2016 Rio. We have also started identifying in training people for 20-20, because two-three-four years are not enough. We need more time to get more gold.