Question : LANDMINE ACCIDENTS

MINISTER OF DEFENCE (SHRI GEORGE FERNANDES)

(a) Number of Army Personnel killed due to landmines in various parts of the country for the period from 1st January 2001 to 13th November 2002 is as under:-

Officers	2	Junior Commissioned Officers	7	Other Ranks	60	Total	69

Casualty figures for the latter part of 2002 may vary on reconfirmation by Army Headquarters.

Details of civilian casualties are being collected.

(b) The reasons for these accidents are human error, defective mines and fuzes, stray cattle entering the minefields and adverse/extreme vagaries of terrain and climate.

(c) Precautionary steps taken to obviate such mine accidents include stringent quality control of mines and fuzes, destruction and replacement of stocks of older vintage and providing better on-the-job training to troops employed in mine laying activities.