Concerned over Chinese military activities along the forward areas of Arunachal Pradesh, India has started the process of shifting the North East headquarters of border guarding force ITBP, 500-km from Shillong to State capital Itanagar.
Moving the NE headquarters of the force involves shifting of over two battalions (2,000 troops) and support staff besides other paraphernalia including setting up of communications and border signals, residential logistics and transportation of heavy vehicles, weapons and artillery from Meghalaya to Arunachal Pradesh, both States on the eastern border flank of the country.
The Centre had in 2014 approved a Rs 175 crore infrastructure package for Arunachal which includes deployment of eight fresh ITBP battalions (8,000 troops), opening of 35 new border roads, 54 border outposts and 72 staging camps along the line of Actual Control (lAC).
The entire exercise of shifting the headquarters will be completed by May end and operations will start from the new headquarters thereafter, officials said.
They said the exercise to create infrastructure is already underway in Itanagar where the force’s sector headquarter has been operating since 2004.
The move to shift paramilitary command in Arunachal Pradesh is in sync with the expansion of military infrastructure in the area and strategic requirements of the present times, an official said.
While a frontier is headed by an Inspector General (IG) rank officer of the force, a sector is commanded by a Deputy IG (DIG) level officer.
As many as 12 battalions of the ITBP are deployed to secure the Indo-China lAC in these areas, and eight more ITBP battalions are set to be inducted in this region keeping in view the sensitivity, operational requirement and border disputes that occur between ITBP/Army and the Chinese Peoples liberation Army (PlA) troops, the official said.
Two other ITBP sectors under the NE frontier are located at Gangtok (Sikkim) and Tezpur (Assam).
Keeping in view the operationalisation of the ITBP establishment in Itanagar, the Government is also looking at ensuring a dedicated air and road connectivity to the outposts so as to ensure unobstructed and quick movement of troops, logistics and other essential items.