ITBP pitches for more men, advanced equipment (Second Lead)

NEW DELHI - Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) chief R.K. Bhatia Thursday said that despite India having a “friendly” border with China, the force needed more men and modern equipment.

Speaking at the 49th Raising Day of the force, Bhatia said the force needed expansion to guard the 3,488 km-long India-China border smoothly and fulfill other obligations of internal security duties too.

“There are patches on the India-China border where the gap between some checkposts is 100 km. Though the average gap is 25 km, we want to bring this down to 20 (km),” Bhatia told reporters.

He said the ITBP has submitted a proposal for restructuring of the force and raising of new units to the government. “We have proposed an addition of 13 more battalions and around eight training institutions,” he said.

“Support weapons like satellite-based communication system, night vision devices, hand grenade simulators etc. have also been proposed, which are under active and positive consideration,” Bhatia said.

Meanwhile, Bhatia also denied claims that there was hostility on the India-China frontier and termed it a “friendly” border.

“Unlike the Pakistan border where there is conflict situation, there is no such activity which says that it (Chinese) is not a friendly border,” he said, also denying reports of any intrusion or encroachment on the border.

Set up in October 1962, the ITBP is deployed to guard the India-China border from Karakoram Pass in Ladakh to Diphu La in Arunachal Pradesh. Having border outposts on altitudes ranging from 9,000 feet to 18,500 feet, most of its officers and men are professionally-trained mountaineers and skiers.