Rajnath’s unscheduled visit to injured surprises all

Rajouri, Dec 27: Defence Minister Rajnath Singh Wednesday surprised everyone with his unscheduled visit to the civil hospital, GMC Associated Hospital Rajouri to meet five injured civilians, who were under treatment in the hospital.

Singh, who was in Rajouri, had no schedule to visit anywhere else other than army division headquarter and Dak Bungalow. However, he also visited the civil hospital following a last-minute change in schedule. The people from the security establishment could be seen running to make security arrangements in the hospital.

The Defence Minister visited Rajouri where he chaired a military level security review meeting, interacted with troops and with some civilians in Dak Bungalow Rajouri as per his scheduled programme.

However, after meeting with political and social representatives in Dak Bungalow Rajouri, he suddenly told his security staff, accompanying officers, that he would also visit the civil hospital where five civilians injured during questioning were under treatment.

Vehicles parked in the premises of the hospital were also removed immediately within minutes and a new OPD block of the hospital was made out of bound for people to facilitate movement of the minister.

“We were having no prior information but were informed about this VVIP visit minutes before his arrival,” said Medical Superintendent of Hospital, Dr. Mehmood H Bajar. He said that the Defence Minister visited the hospital and met the injured there.

Meanwhile, the representatives of civil society along with former legislators and elected members from Poonch district urged the Defence Minister and Lieutenant Governor to recruit more Special Police Officers (SPOs) and raise new battalions of Territorial Army (TA) to fight terrorism in areas of Rajouri, Poonch.

Some members of civil society including District Development Council (DDC) members, Block Council Chairperson and former legislators reached Dak Bungalow Rajouri and took part in a meeting which was chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh along with LG Manoj Sinha, Chief Of Army Staff (COAS) General Manoj Pande, Northern Army Commander Lt Gen Upendra Dwivedi.

In the meeting held in the conference hall of Dak Bungalow Rajouri, the participants put forth their concern towards the rise in terror related incidents in twin districts of Rajouri and Poonch.

DDC member from Poonch, Riyaz Bashir said that many issues were put before the Defence Minister and Lieutenant Governor in the meeting.

DDC member Surankote, Sohail Malik informed that the participants also requested the Defence Minister to conduct Territorial Army (TA) recruitment from the region.