The veteran top brass of the Indian defence forces have also welcomed the recently taken Government’s decision to raise a Mountain Strike Corps, which will be spread all along the lAC (line of Actual Control) from ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh.
They said that it will help the Indian Government to keep an eye on Chinese intrusion to Indian territory. It is noteworthy that the Government’s approval of the Army’s plans to raise a Mountain Strike Corps on the border with China is not new thing rather it was pending for four years. Many veteran top brass of the Indian defence forces demanded from the government to sanction for raising the Corps.
The latest move, which involves raising 50,000 additional troops at a cost of nearly `65,000 crore spread over a few years to strengthen the patrolling and keeping an eye on India’s counterpart along lAC. Approving the nearly four-year-old proposal, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, gave a nod to the Army to raise the corps with more than 50,000 IAF-supported men equipped with helicopters, tanks, artillery guns, armed helicopters.
The corps will also be equipped with ultra light howitzers that can be lifted by helicopters and deployed in inaccessible terrain in Arunachal Pradesh and ladakh.
In an exclusive interaction with The Pioneer, Brig (Retd) KG Behl welcomed the Government decision and said that better late than never. According to him, the proposal was pending for years and since now Union Government gave its nod to raise Mountain Strike Corps, it will surely help to curb Chinese intrusion in the near future. After expressing concern over the acute shortage of brass in the defence forces, Brig Behl the Corps would be exclusively deployed along lAC and the chances of intrusion by Chinese Army will reduce to nil.
He claimed that Indian defence forces are fully prepared and capable to unfold any kind of external aggression but it is always advisable to keep a tab on country’s counterparts. Expressing same views, BSF, IG (Retd) SS Kothiyal, state president, Central Armed Police Force said that the government should had done earlier to prevent any kind of Chinese intrusion that was reported in the last couple of months.
He said that the Corps would be proved extremely beneficial to unfold the Chinese aggression, if it happens in the near future. Kothiyal said that the Corps would be equipped with latest equipments including night vision cameras besides latest communication equipments to keep an eye on Chinese aggression.