Until a 12 months in the past, Amit Kirtaniya, 33, would tremble with worry each time he heard the sound of a utensil dropping on the ground. The clatter would disrupt his sleep and convey again traumatic reminiscences.
On June 5, 2023, Kirtaniya, a constable with the Central Reserve Police Pressure (CRPF), and two of his colleagues had been patrolling the hills of Bijapur district in Chhattisgarh after receiving data that Maoists had been on the transfer. All of a sudden, there was an explosion. “We had been thrown within the air in numerous instructions,” Kirtaniya recollects.
The three males lay bleeding on the hill. A number of hours later, a rescue staff arrived and flew them by chopper to a authorities hospital close by.
The realm had been full of Improvised Explosive Units (IED), Kirtaniya says. Having stepped on one, he misplaced each legs, sustained 95% bodily incapacity in his proper arm, and misplaced imaginative and prescient in his proper eye.
“A day later, I used to be airlifted by an air ambulance to Delhi’s All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) the place I used to be admitted for 15 days,” he says. “I used to be awake and acutely aware. The docs sought my permission to amputate my legs above the knee. I had watched a viral video which gave me hope that I might be capable to stroll once more with synthetic limbs. So, I agreed.”
The CRPF, one of many seven Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) in India, helped him get synthetic limbs final April on the Nationwide Centre for Divyang Empowerment (NCDE) in Hyderabad. Divyang, which implies divine physique half, was a time period launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2015 to confer with individuals with disabilities.
Situated on the CRPF Group Centre in Hakimpet, on the outskirts of Hyderabad in Telangana’s Rangareddy district, the NCDE is the one facility of its type within the nation. Conceived by former CRPF chief, Dr. A.P. Maheshwari, and inaugurated in December 2020, the NCDE is an unique facility for coaching CAPF personnel that suffer accidents and grow to be bodily challenged within the line of responsibility. In simply 5 years, the NCDE has skilled over 219 ‘Divyang warriors’, as they’re known as on campus, producing medal-winning para athletes and expert IT professionals.
Infrastructural help
The NCDE has a sprawling campus. It has about 180 barracks, every divided into 10×10 toes cubicles fitted with a desk, chair, wardrobe with adjustable handles, a motorised mattress, a shoe rack, and a window. Of the barracks, greater than 100 are wheelchair-friendly, full with attendant help. It is not uncommon to see Divyang warriors rise from their wheelchairs to salute superiors.
The campus is provided with large ramps and elevators, and motorised buggies and vans to ferry trainees throughout its grounds. A hospital behind its most important complicated was constructed to deal with emergencies. The Renault Group, a French multinational vehicle producer, has pledged motorised wheelchairs, sports activities chairs, and a bus by November 2025, signalling additional enlargement of mobility help to the personnel on campus.
Kirtaniya says the factitious limbs had been uncomfortable at first, however have now grow to be part of him. “I take away them whereas resting or sleeping. It takes 5-7 minutes to put on your complete gear, which requires servicing too. Within the monsoon season, the gear retains moisture and wishes additional upkeep,” he says.
The constable, who used to trek for miles in jungles sporting a bulletproof jacket and carrying a gun, has been coaching to be an archer on the NCDE for the final one and a half years. His batch consists of 20 trainees. Seven of them have already been chosen for nationwide video games starting from archery to discus throw. The trainees are additionally supplied talent improvement courses in IT, that are run in collaboration with BITS Pilani.
A badminton follow session on the Nationwide Centre for Divyang Empowerment.
| Photograph Credit score:
Nagara Gopal
Kirtaniya’s efforts have resulted in some success. The daddy of two youngsters received two medals — a bronze and a silver — on the Khelo India Para Video games this 12 months. He’s comfortable, however says he misses the jungles. “I skilled to be a fighter, however now I’m a sportsperson,” he says.
The bodily coaching infrastructure on the campus is complete. A ramp results in a totally outfitted health club, tailor-made for the wants of individuals with disabilities, with specifically designed machines calibrated to their strengths and necessities. Physiotherapists information them via periods that target enhancing gait, strengthening arms, and shedding extra weight gained throughout restoration. Separate physiotherapy rooms provide centered workout routines to revive mobility.
At a meditation corridor, two day by day periods of deep leisure, mindfulness, and progressive muscle leisure are carried out to scale back stress, anxiousness, and minimise trauma. The counselling wing, led by specialists, focuses on post-traumatic stress dysfunction and trauma care. The wing additionally usually handles circumstances of candidates who really feel suicidal.
“Our objective is to instil confidence within the individuals right here in order that they’ll lead a dignified life even with a bodily incapacity,” says Dr. Okay. Nagarjuna, a medical psychologist on the wing.
The danger of harmful operations
The CRPF is the principle power deployed for anti-Maoist operations. Within the 38 districts in India affected by Left Wing Extremism (LWE), 15 had been situated in Chhattisgarh in 2024. Following a directive by the Union Ministry of Residence Affairs, safety forces have intensified operations in LWE-affected States, notably Chhattisgarh, since 2023. Steady operations have led to a pointy decline in LWE-affected districts from 126 in 2013 to 18 districts in April 2025. 4 of the six most affected districts are in Chhattisgarh, in keeping with information from the Ministry.
Nonetheless, these operations have additionally led to many grievous accidents. Since 2016, not less than 46 CRPF personnel have misplaced limbs in IED explosions in LWE-affected areas. In 2023, 10 personnel needed to endure amputations as their limbs had been broken in explosions.
On July 27, Union Residence Secretary Govind Mohan stated that CAPF personnel who get severely injured throughout operations and must endure amputation might be allowed to proceed in service till retirement with all the advantages. Mohan stated the federal government will be certain that the most effective medical amenities and expertise can be found for limb substitute surgical procedure for CAPF personnel.
Till July 30 this 12 months, the NCDE had facilitated the fitment of 106 synthetic limbs whereas 135 fitments are underneath course of. Rehabilitation contains personnel that suffer bullet wounds and accidents from highway accidents whereas on their method to responsibility or on depart.
In response to Veer Raju, Deputy Inspector Common, CRPF, who’s in control of the NCDE, the affected personnel are screened once they come to the institute. Primarily based on their degree of curiosity, they’re assigned jobs. Some go for sports activities, whereas others assist collect intelligence via information mining or monitor social media.
The personnel often keep on campus for one two months, typically with their households. Those that are chosen for sports activities keep on campus completely. Those that depart, after present process exams, get clerical or desk jobs.
“The NCDE caters to the rehabilitation of all CAPF personnel who’re injured whereas preventing LWE, terrorists, or insurgency within the Northeast. One of the tough and difficult duties confronted by the CRPF is working in LWE areas, the place Maoists ceaselessly plant bombs to demoralise troops. The injured personnel endure trauma all their lives, so we need to instil hope in them,” he says.
The officer provides that injured jawans have the ‘phantom limb syndrome’, a situation the place people who’ve had a limb amputated proceed to really feel sensations reminiscent of ache, as in the event that they nonetheless have a limb. “They must be counselled,” he says. “This syndrome needs to be managed systematically and scientifically.”
Raju provides that not like para athletes born with bodily challenges, CAPF personnel must adapt to the sudden bodily adjustments. “A few of the injured personnel are actually taking part in video games on the nationwide degree and planning to compete in worldwide video games. They’re troopers who’re decided and motivated. At one level, they stayed in jungles for 15 days at a stretch, strolling 40-50 kilometres with weapons and luggage weighing 10-15 kilogrammes. That form of survival technique turns out to be useful once they swap to sports activities.”
Profitable medals
Toman Kumar, posted as a constable on the CRPF Group Centre in Raipur, is a part of the sixth batch of the NCDE. Kumar’s life modified on February 12, 2022, when he suffered grievous accidents in an IED blast throughout operations with the 209 Commando Battalion for Resolute Motion, an elite particular operations unit of the CRPF. His left leg was amputated above the knee, and he was admitted for in depth rehabilitation.
On October 27, 2023, he obtained his limb fitment on the NCDE. Beneath the steering of his coach, Pankaj, Kumar skilled in archery and was inducted into the para archery staff on the nationwide degree in 2024. Kumar received a silver medal on the thirteenth All India Police meet, a gold and two silver medals on the sixth Para Nationals 2025, and a silver on the 2nd Khelo India Video games 2025. He ranked seventh on the European Para Archery Cup in Rome, eighth on the Asian Para Archery Championships in Beijing, and fourth on the Para Archery World Rating occasion within the Czech Republic. Now, all eyes are on him on the ongoing World Archery Para Championships in Gwangju, Korea. The centre has organized a dwell hyperlink to observe him carry out, and anticipation runs excessive.
A senior authorities official says CAPF personnel must be bodily match to be eligible for promotions. After a CAPF personnel is injured in an operation, a medical board is constituted to resolve if they’re employable with the prevailing disabilities. “If the board decides that the personnel should not match to proceed in service, they’re compulsorily retired however are given full pension and different monetary entitlements. Nonetheless, if the board guidelines in any other case, they’re accommodated in different roles,” says the official.
The official says good high quality prosthetics are costly. Usually the reimbursement of the fee incurred is in keeping with the charges determined by the Central Authorities Well being Scheme (CGHS). The CAPF’s welfare fund was used to satisfy the shortfall, however this was not discovered to be sufficient because the CGHS charges for prostheses haven’t been modified since 2014. In April, the federal government determined to make use of the cash from the Bharat Ke Veer platform, launched by then Residence Minister Rajnath Singh in 2017 to assist the households of paramilitary personnel killed in fight operations. It was registered as a belief in 2018 and the donations had been exempted from revenue tax.
The beginnings
Former CRPF Director Common A.P Maheshwari, who began the NCDE, says, “In 2012 after I was posted as an Inspector Common with the CRPF, I met a jawan who misplaced each his legs in an IED explosion in Jharkhand. When he was provided compensation, he requested me, ‘What is going to I do with the cash?’ Generally they had been assigned roles as phone operators or they had been made to take a seat at a ration store. That’s after I determined that one thing needs to be achieved to present them a dignified life.”
Maheshwari says it took one other eight years for NCDE to materialise. Now it serves as a single-window system to deal with the grievances of bodily disabled troops. He says it was a matter of concern that an growing variety of personnel had been dropping limbs on responsibility. And whereas the federal government was offering a monetary bundle for them, the true problem was to re-employ them as many had been being “boarded out” because of the bodily disabilities. “That additionally had an adversarial psychological impression on different troopers who thought that in the event that they misplaced their limbs, they’d even be in the same place,” Maheshwari says.
The officer provides, “Whereas there have been efforts by the federal government, they had been decentralised. Relying on the rank, the personnel needed to run from one workplace to a different to get medically examined, get the limbs sanctioned. Now, all the things is accessible at one centre. The concept is that they need to not really feel helpless or nugatory.”
Sanjit Singh Rawat, who has been coaching the para-shooting staff for the previous two years, says, “I used to coach able-bodied athletes earlier. I discover that para-athletics have stronger willpower. We prepare them to enhance their psychological power and likewise concentrate on their wellness.”
Aiming excessive
Constable Ramanuj Kumar, 33, was a navigator. His job was to guide the staff with the assistance of GPS coordinates. On June 14, 2020, he stepped on an IED in Chhattisgarh and misplaced his proper leg beneath the knee.
“I noticed my leg fly within the air and fall into the bushes. The opposite leg was badly injured. Greater than ache, I keep in mind feeling a burning sensation. Whereas one leg was minimize beneath the knee, the opposite was amputated above the knee. Initially, I fell down a number of instances from my mattress. I used to get up at evening to go to the toilet or to fetch water pondering I nonetheless have legs,” Kumar says.
The constable has embraced shot put and discus throw as a part of the “second innings” of his life. The health club and physiotherapy amenities on the NCDE, with specifically designed gear and a separate physiotherapy room, have helped him strengthen his arms and enhance his gait. He additionally attends meditation periods.
“I don’t want family and friends to take a look at me with pity. I got here to the NCDE and took to sports activities. After they had been screening me for eligibility, I used to rank final within the video games. I instructed myself, ‘If others can do it, why not me?’ With follow I improved and I’ve received 5 medals on the nationwide degree,” Kumar says.
Kumar can be specializing in power coaching. “Since I am going to the health club repeatedly, my prostheses additionally require frequent servicing and upkeep. After getting synthetic limbs, and because of the uneven construction of my legs, I initially confronted hassle whereas balancing my stroll, however I’m used to it. I need to go worldwide now. I do know it’s a great distance however I’m working in the direction of it,” says Kumar, whose show image on WhatsApp reveals him posing within the forests of Chhattisgarh in a camouflage uniform, sporting ankle-length boots and holding an AK-47 rifle.