NEW DELHI, Mar : As many as 156 Armymen and three IAF personnel were martyred in terrorist attacks as well as counter-terror operations during the last five years, according to details provided by the Defence Ministry in Rajya Sabha today.
Responding to a question, Minister of State for Defence Ajay Bhatt said the Army’s fatal casualties in terrorist attacks/counter-terrorist operations in 2017 was 40 that increased to 47 in 2018.
The number was 27 in 2019, 23 in 2020 and it was 19 in 2021, according to the data provided by him. There was no fatal or non-fatal casualty so far in 2022.
Bhatt said the three Indian Air Force personnel were martyred in 2017 while two of its personnel were injured in 2022.
The number of Army personnel who suffered injuries during terrorist attacks/counter-terrorist operations in the last five years was 323, according to Bhatt’s written reply.
“No Naval personnel suffered any casualties during this period,” he said.
Bhatt also said an amount of Rs 7.14 crore was provided to the families of the deceased Army personnel as part of financial support while a total of Rs 3.49 crore was given to personnel who sustained injuries.
The Minister also provided details of compensation and support extended to the next of kin of the three deceased IAF personnel.
To a separate question on supporting the domestic defence industry, he said the Government has accorded Acceptance of Necessity (in principle approval) to 150 proposals worth Rs 2,47,515 crore approximately in the last three years in line with its priority to boost domestic manufacturing.
“In addition, during the last three years that is from 2018-19 to 2020-21 and current year till January 2022, out of total 191 capital acquisition contracts signed, 121 have been signed with Indian vendors,” Bhatt said.
