Captain sweats to death playing army’s Thar war-games

The harsh weather and inhuman conditions in the just concluded army exercise, Vijayee Bhava, seem to have taken their toll on the personnel participating in it, with the first casualty recently happening.

Captain RK Poonia, 29, of the 1st Guards battalion, died of severe dehydration leading to cardiac failure in the Thar desert of Rajasthan, where the 10-day long Strike Corps exercise of the Ambala-based 2 Corps recently concluded. Four days back when the officer was serious, he was evacuated to the field hospital, but was declared brought dead.

Around 50,000 personnel participated in the exercise, where the temperature was around 48 degrees.

The officer’s unit, 1st Guards, was part of the offensive forces, which were tasked with the capture of land in the middle of the deserts. Though there are makeshift hospitals and emergency arrangements during the exercise, but Capt Poonia was declared dead when brought back from his forward location to the makeshift hospital, in a helicopter.

A source told DNA, “There is so much pressure on officers, due to VIP visits, like that of the defence minister of the Army Chief, that they are constantly under scrutiny, which makes them perform their best, even at the cost of neglecting their health.”

As officer told DNA that for 72-hour sustenance, a 20-kg kit tied on an officer contains around eight litres of water, which is far less than the requirement.

The unit 1st Guards is based in Roorkee, but is orbatted with the Dehradun-based 14 Division, also called ‘Rapids’.

The Patiala-based 1 armoured Division participated with its three Brigades, with T-90, T-72 and T-55 tanks along with BMPs and ICVs, which when driven have the temperature as high as 55 degrees inside in the driver’s cabin.

Defence minister AK Antony visited the location before that exercise at the beginning of this month, and the Army Chief too had visited it a couple of times.