Chinese incursion: ITBP to set up command in Leh

In the wake of frequent incursion bids by Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) will be establishing a new command at Leh and the process of setting up over 40 modern border outposts in the icy heights of Ladakh has been initiated.

The ITBP, which guards the 4,086-km-long Sino-Indian border from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh, has decided to establish a Sector command, which will be headed by an Inspector General of Police rank, official sources said.

ITBP, which is the first point of response to any incursion by the PLA, earlier had a Frontier headquarter headed by two DIGs at Leh and Srinagar. The officers reported to an IG in Chandigarh.

The government has accepted the ITBP’s demand for the creation of a Sector Command to facilitate taking decisions at crucial times without any loss of time, sources said. “The IG’s office has been shifted from Chandigarh to Ladakh, where the Army Corps Commander sits. This has been done for better coordination between the two forces present to secure the China border areas,” a senior ITBP official said.

The Army, which carved out a separate Corps after the Kargil intrusion in 1999, had been demanding operational control over the ITBP, which has been time and again rejected by the government.

In a related development, work has been initiated for setting up 40 Border Outposts in the icy heights of Ladakh to be manned by ITBP jawans who guard the border of the country in hostile weather at many places where the mercury slips to minus 40 degrees Celsius. 

While about 27 such posts have been recently created along the Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim sector, 40 border outposts, at between 8,000-14,000ft, will come up along the Leh border via refurbishing through available indigenous technology provided by the Delhi and Roorkee IITs. 

The total cost of upgrading the border outposts is estimated to be Rs 1,100 crore.