NewsGate Press Network

The much needed new and additional troops for the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) were sanctioned by the Cabinet during its latest meeting held on Wednesday the 15th of February 2023.

In all Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) approved hiring of 9,400 fresh troops for raising seven new border battalions apart from a new operational base for the India-China LAC.

Government spokesperson and minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said during the media interaction that the fresh manpower will be utilised for manning 47 new border posts and a dozen ‘staging camps’ or troops bases to be created along this frontier, largely in Arunachal Pradesh. These bases were sanctioned in 2020.

The about 90,000 personnel strong ITBP was raised in the aftermath of the 1962 Chinese aggression and it is tasked with guarding the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC) on India’s eastern flank.

The force is working along with the Army at this front even as the militaries of India and China are engaged in a standoff at Ladakh from 2020.

In order to ensure effective guarding of the LAC, these new bases were sanctioned and now seven battalions and a new sector headquarter comprising about 9,400 personnel have been sanctioned, a senior officer said.

The battalions and the sector headquarter are expected to be put in place by 2025-26, the minister added.

Anurag Thakur said the non-recurring expenditure of ₹ 1,808.15 crore is estimated to be spent for land acquisition, creation of office and residential buildings, and arms and ammunition while a recurring annual expenditure of ₹ 963.68 crore will be done under the salaries and rations head for the fresh manpower.

With these new additions the 47 border posts the ITBP’s strength will be significantly increased along the LAC. Overall its total numbers will be go-up by 10 percent.

Currently the ITBP force has 176 border posts along the India-China border line,