General Bipin Rawat said he has never seen such synergy among 3 services before to fight Covid crisis

As India battles a devastating wave of coronavirus infection, Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat said the armed forces are utilising all the resources to handle the Covid crisis in the country. Speaking exclusively with India Today TV, General Bipin Rawat said while there are constraints in handling the coronavirus crisis, "such synergy between the three armed forces has never been seen before".

India is struggling with the second wave of coronavirus infection as hospitals in several states are reeling under a shortage of oxygen and beds. As Covid cases spiked in India, overwhelming the hospitals across several states and causing oxygen shortages, which resulted in many deaths, the Indian Air Force was roped in for the international operations.

The three services as well as other wings of the defence ministry have been extending support to various state governments and union territories in dealing with a massive spike in coronavirus cases.

Speaking about how the armed forces are being mobilised to ensure the transportation of oxygen to areas lacking oxygen manufacturing capabilities, General Bipin Rawat said, "Unfortunately, the armed forces do not have the capacity to generate oxygen. We do not have oxygen plants; even for our own hospitals, we bank on agencies to provide us with oxygen."

"To transport oxygen in rural and other areas of the country, we are buying oxygen concentrators. We have generators in case there's no electricity supply. We make sure people get oxygen concentrators and gradually we are making sure the oxygen concentrators move forward as much as possible. We are expecting about 5,000 concentrators being made available to us...these will be deployed in areas where we find a lack of oxygen."

"Unfortunately, the filled cylinders cannot be lifted by air. That is a restriction," General Bipin Rawat said. General Bipin Rawat said the armed forces are working together. He said states that have the highest number of Covid-19 cases, have been identified. "We are utilising all resources to help India overcome the overwhelming situation," Gen Bipin Rawat said.

"The line of coordination is well-defined and we all work together to maximum utilisation of our resources. States have been identified and attention has been given to those states," General Bipin Rawat said.

He also said the armed forces have created new hospital infrastructures, new resources, and have installed vital items to serve the needy as the country fights the devastating second wave of the coronavirus pandemic.

NEVER SEEN THIS KIND OF SYNERGY AMONG 3 SERVICES

General Bipin Rawat also said such synergy between the three armed services to serve the nation has never been seen before.

"The kind of positivity that is being generated...we are walking the extra mile to ensure that we move forward and work together. The Air Force, without even getting directions, is supporting the Army in moving equipment and forces. We were able to send additional troops to Ladakh. It happened because of coordination. The directions came from the top leadership of the three services," General Bipin Rawat said.

ON VIRUS CASES AMONG PERSONNEL

When asked how the virus has impacted service personnel considering the extensive deployment of personnel along the borders as the Chinese threat continues to loom, General Bipin Rawat said, "Troops that are required to be deployed to the front line, we make sure they undergo tests [Covid], they undergo quarantine before they are deployed forward."

"It is leading to a delay in the deployment but we can't let our guard down to make sure Covid-19 doesn't spread among the personnel deployed on the front line," General Bipin Rawat said.

NOT LETTING OUR GUARD DOWN: GEN BIPIN RAWAT

Asked if there is a concern that China might create mischief along the border as India battles the Covid, General Bipin Rawat said, "We carry out risk assessment and risk analysis from time to time. In the times of Covid, we have carried out 'what can happen?'. We have made sure we have a minimal presence on the borders to prevent being surprised. We are maintaining reserve forces in-depth areas to ensure that should something go wrong, we are able to position troops at the place of our choosing."

"While we are taking some degree of risk because we also have to support the people and some people [personnel] have been pulled back in our effort to serve the nation, after carrying out the risk assessment and risk analysis, we have identified areas where we think we need to keep our guard higher.

Earlier, Gen Bipin Rawat had called upon the armed forces to rise to the occasion and support the civil administrations across the country in dealing with the pandemic as well as creating mitigation facilities in a time-bound manner.

"Our men and women in uniform have the will and dedication to break barriers and walk the extra mile, always and every time," Gen Rawat said.

In April, Prime Minister Narendra Modi met CDS Gen Bipin Rawat, Army chief Gen MM Naravane, IAF chief Air Chief Marshal RKS Bhadauria and Navy chief Admiral Karambir Singh to review the operations being carried out by the armed forces. The Indian Air Force and the Indian Navy are part of mission oxygen.