Ironic it may sound, elite anti-naxal commando squad CoBRA, which was named after one of the most venomous reptiles, is now facing incidence of snake bites among its personnel posted in deep jungles.
Ten battalions of the Commando Battalion for Resolute Action (CoBRA) are deployed in the dense jungles of Odisha, Chhattisgarh, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar to undertake intelligence based anti-Maoist operations and provide quality assistance to regular CRPF and other state police units in similar offensives.
Each CoBRA battalion has about 1,000 personnel.
Faced with a number of incidents of snake bites, the CoBRA now wants to procure more than 75 units of snake venom removal kit.
The kit, assembled by few Indian companies, comes with an extractor, an anti-dote vial and other medical aids. Security forces deployed for counter-insurgency and other operations in jungles are provided with these kits.
The CoBRA, which plans to get 76 such kits, will also distribute it to some Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) units deployed for operations in naxal-affected states.
"The CoBRA commandos also undertake long haul ambush operations in dense jungles where they stay for close to two days at a stretch sometimes. In case of any snake bite incident, these kits come handy and act as life savers," a senior official of the force said.