Cabinet Committee on Security sanctions 17 HD cameras to ITBP
ITBP tasked with an important job
No one talks about the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP). For the best way to keep borders safe from a civilian perspective, it is the ITBP that comes to the forefront. In the recent tension along the India-China border following the recent clash between Indian and Chinese troops, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has approved the procurement of around 17 high-resolution cameras for the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) to monitor the activities of Chinese forces. These new cameras will help not only the Army but to a large amount of local intelligence gathering. To keep the ITBP morale up, Union Home Minister Amit Shah has given specific responsibility to Dr. Anish Dayal Singh, an IPS officer as the Director General of ITBP. In an exalted position, the Home Ministry has also given SSB as an additional charge to Dr. Anish Dayal Singh. With the expertise of local intelligence gathering when Dr. Singh wore a different cap as Special Director Intelligence Bureau. Interestingly, for three days Dr. Singh stayed at border posts and spent days with the jawan to give a morale booster.
The Army guards land along the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan, with the BSF — and the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, with the ITBP.
On December 9, in the latest flashpoint at the India-China border, troops from both sides clashed in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang sector, beating each other with sticks and canes in the closest such encounter since the deadly Galwan incident in eastern Ladakh in June 2020.
More allocation for the ITBP
The ITBP had been allocated Rs.7,461.28 crore from the Centre in the Budget for this fiscal compared to Rs.6,965.02 crore last time. “In keeping with the increasingly important and high-risk roles being performed by the CAPFs (Central Armed Police Forces) in maintaining internal security and guarding of borders, there has been a corresponding increase in Budget provisions for actual expenditure over the past 10 financial years,” MHA officials said.
The officials said weapons, equipment, and vehicles procured by CAPFs under modernization plan-III included multi-grenade launchers, under-barrel grenade launchers, assault rifles, 9-mm SMG beretta guns, and bomb detection and disposal equipment.
ITBP guards the Line of Actual Control (LAC)
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Force was raised on 24 October 1962. At present, the ITBP guards 3,488 km long India-China borders ranging from the Karakoram Pass in Ladakh to Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh. Apart from this, the Force also has important roles in many internal security duties and operations against Left Wing Extremism in the state of Chhattisgarh.
Most of the ITBP’s Border Out Posts (BOPs) are located at altitudes ranging from 9,000 ft to 18,800 ft where temperatures drop to minus 45 degrees Celsius in extreme winters.
ITBP is a specialized Armed Police Force of the nation which trains its personnel in various disciplines including mountaineering and skiing apart from intensive tactical training, thereby creating a distinctive image of the Force.
ITBP also conducts relief and rescue operations as ‘First Responders‘ for natural calamities in the Himalayan region. The Force has responded in hundreds of search, rescue & relief operations over the years to provide succour to thousands of citizens in distress due to various calamities.
The Force has a glorious history of the past 6 decades in which the jawans of the ITBP have made many sacrifices in the line of duty and in the service of the Nation.
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