Sources say the case has already been taken up by the Army with the Government and sanction is expected to come through within the next few days.

A British firm is being approached for the supply of artificial limbs. Made of special light weight material called endolite, these artificial limbs would have movable joints, enabling the wearer to walk virtually naturally.

While an artificial limb to be fitted below the knee would be costing about Rs 32,000 each, a complete artificial limb fitted above the knee would cost about Rs 65,000. The cost will be borne by the government.

Such artificial limbs are not manufactured in the country yet. The types of artificial limbs available here are made of wood or plastic, without any movable parts. These are cumbersome as the user has to get accustomed to wearing these limbs.

With the movable endolite limbs, the user can just wear it and walk virtually normally.

Though the case put up to the government is initially for victims of the ongoing Kargil operations, sources do not rule out the possibility of providing such artificial limbs to other soldiers whose disability is attributed to military service in the future.

One of the major reasons for troops engaged in flush out operations loosing their feet or legs are landmines laid by intruders in the area. Anti-personnel mines, weighing just 150 grams normally do not kill a person but maim him. Already there have been several cases where a soldier's limb, or what was left of it after stepping on a mine, had to be amputated.

Multiple bullet injures shattering bones or severe cases of frost bite are also responsible for limbs being amputated in certain cases.