Number of securitymen killed in mine blasts has declined: Govt

The number of security personnel killed in mine blasts in the country have sharply declined from 285 in 2010 to only 32 so far this year, the government told Rajya Sabha today.
Replying to supplementaries, Minister of State for Home Affairs Hansraj Gangaram Ahir said "for the last few years, our securitymen who have died in mine attacks have reduced largely. We are also using drones and helicopters and other modern equipment."
He said the number of securitymen who died in mine blasts in 2010 were 285 and the number is gradually coming down.
"In 2011, 142 security personnel died in mine attacks, while in 2012, the number came down to 114. In 2013, 115 security personnel died in mine attacks, 88 in 2014, 59 in 2015, 65 in 2016 and so far in 2017 security personnel who died in such attacks came down to only 32," he said.

Ahir said each batallion of security forces have at least one or two mine-protected vehicles (MPVs) and only 10 MPVs have been sent to Kashmir so far.
The Minister said since the Vehicle Factory Jabalpur (Ordinance Factory Board) was the only manufacturer of these vehicles in the country, the availability was not very much.

He said the factory has the capacity to manufacture only 100 MPVs in a year and the armed and paramilitary forces get their supplies from this factory only.
"Due to only one manufacturer, the procurement is not done in one go. But every batallion has one to two MPVs. 20 such MPVs have been received recently by CRPF and 20 more have been ordered. Approvals made have been for long term,"he said.

Replying to another supplementary, he said there was very less research on how deep the IEDs are kept under the ground, but despite that, some MPVs have been lost.
He said the armed forces do not consider the MPVs as "very successful" and thus more research is underway to come out with a more modernised vehicle.
"We have raised a demand to the Ordinance factory for manufacture of Modernised mine protected vehicles (MMPV), which is working on it," he said.
"We are working towards booking of MMPV and other modern equipment," he said.
Ahir said our security forces have been working well with the help of MPVs, but they are not just working with MPVs help but also with other new equipment.

"In the last three years, CRPF has made procurement of 20 vehicles and the number of MPVs for which procurement is underway is 40 for CRPF, 12 for BSP, 12 for ITBP and 7 for SSB," the Minister said in his written reply.
He also informed that CRPF has a total of 126 MPVs, BSF has 24, Assam Rifles 28 and ITBP 20.
"The actual procurement of any equipment, including mine protected vehicles, is guided by operational requirements and priorities, competing requirements and availability of finance," he said.