More troops on Indo-China border
Nearly 12,000 additional personnel will be added in the force
By : DC Correspondent
Update: 2014-10-28 02:09 GMT
New Delhi: The Indo-Tibetan Border Police, which is countering transgressions by the Chinese Army along the LAC, will soon be inducting nearly 12,000 additional personnel in the force giving it a major boost of strength.
The move to raise 12 new battalions in the force comes in the backdrop of over 300 transgressions by the Chinese Army along the LAC till August 2014. The Centre has given an in-principle approval for induction of the personnel to the ITBP, which guards the 3,488 km-long Sino-India border, government sources said.
These battalions will be deployed at 54 new border outposts that will be set along Sino-India border in Arunachal Pradesh, official sources said here. The setting up of new posts, announced by home minister Rajnath Singh on Friday last, will bolster the presence of ITBP in Arunachal Pradesh which has witnessed incursion attempts from Chinese side because of large gaps between two border posts.
Chinese Army transgressed the border 334 times till August 4, this year. The number of such incidents stood at 411 in 2013, 426 in 2012 and 213 in 2011. The sources now said an ‘in-principle’ approval has been granted by the Union Home Ministry after the ITBP had submitted a detailed plan that it would require to raise additional 12 battalions to man these new locations.
The present strength of the ITBP is 62 battalions and 58 of them are deployed along Sino-India border and remaining four in Naxal-hit areas.
“An in-principle approval has been made in this regard,” a senior Home Ministry official said and added that after a final approval, large scale recruitment will be carried out in a phased manner over a period of five years.