The Union Cabinet approved seven new battalions and an operational border base with a strength of 9,400 personnel for the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) on Wednesday, according to news reports, amid a border standoff with China in Ladakh. The 3,488-km-long LAC on India’s eastern border is protected by the ITBP.
At a Cabinet meeting presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the idea was approved.
The additional personnel will be used to patrol 12 “staging camps” or military bases along the LAC border as well as 47 new border stations.
Following the 1962 Chinese assault, the ITBP, which has around 90,000 members, was expanded.
This event occurs months after 35 Indian soldiers and 40 Chinese soldiers were hurt during a bloody clash between Indian and Chinese troops in Tawang, Arunachal Pradesh. On December 9, 2022, Chinese soldiers attempted to cross the LAC near the Yangtse in the Tawang district of Arunachal Pradesh.
Following a bloody altercation in the Pangong lake region on May 5, 2020, the Indian and Chinese forces engaged in a stalemate along the eastern Ladakh border.
On December 20, 2022, the Chushul-Mondo border hosted the 17th session of the Corp Commanders Meeting between China and India. At Patrolling Point-15 in the Gogra-Hot Springs region of eastern Ladakh, Indian and Chinese forces concluded the disengagement procedure in September of that year.
The disengagement process between the two parties on the north and south banks of Pangong Lake was finished in 2021.
While the situation at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) remains “stable but unpredictable,” Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Manoj Pande recently stated that there has been a “slight uptick” in the deployment of Chinese troops opposing the Army’s Eastern Command.
Pande added that India has been able to match China’s strength in the border regions despite China’s continued deployment of PLA personnel.
The Army Chief stated that India was keeping a careful eye on China’s increased infrastructure construction near the border.
2,100 km of roads have been built by the BRO in the previous five years. According to the Army Chief, work is being done to build tunnels and upgrade bridges in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh. According to him, over Rs 1,300 crore was expended on the construction of this infrastructure, including housing in eastern Ladakh.
