ITBP to establish 10 all-women border outposts along India-China LAC

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force, which guards the 3,488 km-long India-China LAC, is establishing 10 all-women border posts along this arduous and icy frontier, the director general of the paramilitary said.

The force, as part of its ambitious "forwardisation" plan, initiated post the 2020 military clash in Ladakh, has also moved its 215 border posts forward along the front on India's north and eastern flank so far.

ITBP DG Praveen Kumar said this during the 64th Raising Day parade of the force held in Jammu on Saturday. "We have worked on the forwardisation plan and, as a result, the number of forward-deployed BOPs (border outposts) is now 215 as compared to 180.

"The establishment of seven new battalions and a sector headquarters has not only strengthened this plan (forwardisation) but has also enhanced our reach and supervision of the forward areas...," the DG said.

The Centre had sanctioned seven more battalions and a sector office comprising about 9,400 personnel for the ITBP in 2023.

The DG said the force will establish 41 more such forward bases along the India-China Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the near future in order to "strengthen security and coordination".

As part of enhancing the role of women combatants, the ITBP is in the process of establishing two all-women BOPs in Ladakh's Lukung and Thangi in Himachal Pradesh. Eight more all-women BOPs will be made operational on this front, the DG said.

The ITBP chief said the training institutions of the force have been "reorganised" and five new skilling modules have been launched for the troops, including on subjects like mountain warfare and tactical survival.

The ITBP, with a manpower of more than one lakh personnel, has its border posts ranging between the height of 9,000 feet and over 14,000 feet, affected by inclement weather and low levels of oxygen.

The force, raised in 1962, functions under the command of the Union Home Ministry.