Unable to bear the sweat, a jawan (face blurred) on patrol in Lalgarh has taken off his bullet-proof jacket and hung it from a tree. Picture by Amit Datta

Lalgarh, June 22: The sapping heat in the land of the Red Earth is taking a heavier toll on the security forces than the Maoists.

“I can take bullets, but can’t bear this heat,” said a BSF jawan patrolling Pirakata Road, which runs through Jhitka forest and leads to Lalgarh thana.

Drenched in sweat, the man from the disciplined force defied the rulebook, took out his bullet-proof jacket and hung it up on a banyan tree. A cap replaced the “suffocating helmet”.

“We’ve been trained to stay fit in extreme weather. But I have never faced a situation like this,” said the man, cooling off under the tree.

His patrol duty started at 4am and he was all exhausted by 10am. The 20-something man in camouflage gear could not walk any longer.

According to the Met office in Calcutta, a heat-wave like situation has prevailed over the areas around Jhargram, about 30km from Pirakata.

With the maximum temperature touching 40 degrees Celsius and relative humidity hovering around 90 per cent, the men on mission Lalgarh are having a tough time.

Till now, bullets haven’t claimed a life but the heat has. N. Roy, a CRPF jawan, died of a heat attack on Saturday.

According to data at the Lalgarh primary health centre, 57 people were brought in over the past two days with dehydration, headache and heat rashes. Almost half of them were security personnel.

“They were all taken ill because of the extreme heat and humidity,” said Prashant Kumar Sana, the medical officer at the health centre that lacks basic facilities.

It has only two saline circuits and out of the nine beds in the four rooms only five have mattresses. “We can’t attend to so many people. So I am referring most patients to the Midnapore Sadar Hospital (50km away),” said Sana, adding that six personnel had to be airlifted yesterday.

If adverse weather is the primary challenge, the other big problem for the force is lack of action since Saturday.

“The adrenaline rush during a fight helps tackle the weather woes. But here most of us haven’t fired a single shot and we are already drained. There is no clarity about when the operation will start and that’s really disturbing,” said a CRPF jawan patrolling Pirakata Road with an AK-47.

Heat is not new to the man from Rajasthan but what has surprised him is a blazing sun since 6.30 in the morning.

According to a weatherman, the high temperature is because of the absence of a cloud cover.

The high humidity, due to the incursion of moisture from the Bay of Bengal into the lower troposphere, is compo- unding the problem and pushing up the discomfort. “This heat wave-like condition is likely to persist for at least another 24 hours after which there is a possibility of rain,” said a Met official.

Lalgarh literally means red earth and the ground looks like it has been baked to that colour. “Only a spell of rain can rejuvenate us to fight a battle,” said the CRPF jawan who took the risk of entering the Jhitka forest in search of a cooler place this afternoon.

If the central forces were scurrying for cover, their poor cousins — the state troops — were faring far worse.

“I’ve never faced such ex-treme weather and tough schedule in my life. It’s really difficult to carry on like this,” said a young reserve police constable who reached Lalgarh from the Alipore Bodyguard Lines in Calcutta last Wednesday.

New police chief

Bhupinder Singh will be the next Bengal police chief.

Home secretary Ardhendu Sen today said he would take over as director-general of police when Sujit Sarkar retires on June 30.

Singh is now the director-general of police, co-ordination, and overseeing operations in Lalgarh. He will be in the new post for almost a year.