The Indian Army has been involved in helping the administration in Kashmir in containing the Covid 19 pandemic. A brief writeup on the activities done in Chinar Corps in Kashmir in this regard is outlined in this piece. Interestingly, while the army worked hand – in – hand with the civil administration in tackling the pandemic, there was no letup in the counter terrorist operations.
Kashmir has witnessed turbulent times in the last three decades, resultantly the Army, security forces and the civil administration have developed synergy and excellent rapport. It was thus natural for the Army in Kashmir to willingly help in containing the pandemic. The Army’s presence in many parts of Kashmir and its regular ‘Beat Patrols’ to a large number of hamlets gave the Union Territory Administration an additional ability to reach out to the populace. The Army’s role has indeed been substantial and more visible as compared to other places.
As the nation geared up to face the pandemic, the Chinar Corps in Kashmir joined hands with the ‘Corona Warriors’ to help the Awaam. Covid 19 and telemedicine helplines were set up to inform and advice the people about the ‘Covid-19’ virus, about social distancing, contact tracing, quarantine, isolation, etc – words which are trending buzzwords today. The Chinar Corps regularly carries out ‘Khairiyat Patrols’ to remote dwellings, akin to ‘Beat Patrols’. These became an effective medium to educate the masses and also provided doorstep assistance in terms of rations, masks, sanitizers, and other relief material to those in need. While rendering such assistance, these disciplined men in “Combat Dress” maintained social distancing norms and took other precautionary steps.