First women’s battalion of ITBP passes out

PANCHKULA - It was a proud moment for 209 new constables Friday as they became the first batch of women to be inducted into the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) at an impressive passing out parade at the ITBP training centre at Bhanu near here.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram flew in to take the salute from the new troopers at the passing out parade.

These recruits will be the first women to be deployed along the international border with China by the ITBP. They will be assigned duties along the Kailash-Mansarovar pilgrimage route in Uttarakhand and also put on internal security duties.

The ITBP mans the internal border between India and China.

The Border Security Force (BSF) last year had also inducted its first batch of around 200 women troopers. In September, they were deployed along the 553 km fenced India-Pakistan border in Punjab and at the India-Bangladesh border.