In an apparent counter-attack on central police forces

under the Home Ministry, the IAF chief raised the issue of "lack of sanitisation" for choppers in some of the helipads in Naxal areas, he said, "If this was not taken care off, the IAF choppers would continue to get hit in those areas.' He was asked to comment on the complaint filed by the Home Ministry against his personnel's conduct in Naxal operations. On the decision by his men, he said, "it is a combat zone and bullets were flying as firing continued for half an hour or so. "By this time it was dark and night. There is an issue that captain and the crew decided that if they were to split up, there was situation of a hostage because that area was full of such people. "You can imagine the situation if anyone of them had been taken hostage, there would have been another crisis unfolding in next few weeks," the IAF chief said. Browne said reports suggesting that the injured policeman was taken away on a motorcycle and was critical were also incorrect. "The injured trooper was evacuated in an armoured car and not a motorcycle as was reported and taken to Raipur in our chopper and he is not critical. "One of our officers met him and he was sitting on a sofa having tea," he said. He said the reports that the IAF crew left behind the guns on board the chopper were wrong as the machine gun had jammed while landing in the incident which took place on January 18. The Home Secretary wrote a letter to the Defence Secretary Shashikant Sharma on February 5 asking the latter to institute an inquiry and take appropriate action in connection with the January 16 incident when Maoists' gunfire had forced an Indian Air Force helicopter to make emergency landing. A state police wireless operator had suffered gunshot injuries in the incident. On the UAV operations by the NTRO in the naxal-affected areas, he said the agency has not been able to use its machines effectively as they were facing shortages of ground station operators there. The IAF chief said his force was operating in the Naxal areas on the "request and proposal" of Home Ministry and would continue to carry out its tasks with full commitment.