Dhumal, Anurag also oppose Army move to shift ARTRAC

Shimla: Two senior BJP leaders from Himachal Pradesh, including MoS (Finance) Anurag Thakur and former CM Prem Kumar Dhumal, have also conveyed their opposition to defence minister Rajnath Singh over Indian Army move to shift Army Training Command (ARTRAC) from Shimla to Meerut.

The central minister Anurag Thakur and Prem Kumar Dhumal have written separate letters to Rajnath Singh asking him to drop the proposal as Shimla offers a conducive environment for the functioning of the ARTRAC, which faces no operational or administrative problems in its functioning from the state's capital. "I would humbly urge you to kindly consider the request, and not shift the ARTRAC in view of the historic importance of Shimla — which had also remained the headquarters of the Army, during the British Era, also later had also headquarters of the Western command," Dhumal reminded to Defence minister.

In his two-page letter, Dhumal informed the Defence Minister that Shimla, before Independence, had remained headquarters of the Army from 1864 to 1939. "Needless to mention that Shimla has been a strategic location of the Indian army from about 150 years. It remained the headquarters of the Indian army during the British period. During this period two wars were brought," he wrote.

He again said that after Independence, Shimla also remained headquarters of the Western Command, during which three wars with Pakistan and one with China were also fought. Later on, this command was also shifted from Shimla to Chandi Mandir in 1983.

After a few years, the ARTRAC was raised in 1991 in Mahow, a decision was taken to located ARTRAC at Shimla keeping in view the conducive environment and available infrastructure vacated by the western command. Such an organisation which is considered to be a Think Tank of the Indian Army is ideally located in Shimla, said former CM.

Meanwhile, Anurag in his letter also reiterated the same demand, saying, "The Army Training Command Headquarters has been in Shimla since 1993 and sudden shift will significantly affect the officers of all ranks, large

number of serving personnel, a majority of whom are locals along with an impact on the local business as well as local employment."