New Delhi: Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Director General SS Deswal on Wednesday said as far as the guarding of 3488 KM long Indo- China border is concerned we have a friendly relation with China.
Addressing a annual press conference at ITBP headquarters here, Mr Deswal said in last two years, there was hardly any issue relating to face off with the Chinese People Liberation Army (PLA) while guarding the vast Line of Actual Control (LAC).
At times, he said, both the Forces come to face to face at some pockets because of undefined border or not clearly demarcated border, but those situations have been resolved through a prescribed mechanism. ''This actually happens because of the perceptions of the both Forces about the border and whenever they face each other at some point during border patrol, they retreats immediately'', Mr Deswal said.
He also said,''The ITBP is guarding the long Himalayan border where temperature is on average at zero degree and guarding the border efficiently. The Force is mandated to guard Indian border crossing through this difficult terrain of Himalayas and the ‘Himveer’(ITBP Jawans) are doing it the best possible way'', the DG added.
To avoid such face off, a proper communication mechanism have been evolved to deal with Chinese force and around 200 ITBP personnel have learnt ‘Mandarin’ language so that they can communicate with them, the ITBP chief said.
Apart from this, the border patrol party also keeps banners and placards written in the Chinese language which they display on such occasions.
Mr Deswal further said ITBP is now manning 180 strong Border Out Posts (BOPs) along the Indo-China Border with dedication and steadfastness and has been conducting hundreds of Long Range Patrols (LRPs) and Short Range Patrols to ensure strict vigil on the borders.
Elaborating the facilities provided to the ITBP jawans at high altitudes, the DG said that the best efforts are being made to ensure possible comforts in harsh weather conditions of the Himalayan terrains where temperature often remains below zero degree.
''Union Home Ministry has recently sanctioned appraisal of Rs 153 crore for construction of infrastructure at many BOPs which are not connected by road and works at most of these BOPs are in progress and 69 Solar Power Plants having total capacity of 445 KW installed at 69 Border Out Posts'', he said.
The DG further said the first construction of Permanent Integrated Building (PIB) at Lukung BOP in Ladakh is which will have many facilities like centralized heating with green energy is on and nearing completion.
''We have provided uniform Special Cold climate clothing and mountaineering equipment to all high altitude categories from 9,000 ft and above with 100 percent reserves and also hopeful that the ITBP will get two Helicopters on wet leasing soon'', he added.
The force is also contributing to peace keeping in Left Wing Extremism hit Chhattisgarh.Since induction of ITBP in Chhattisgarh in 2009, a total of 55,446 operations have been conducted. During the year 2018 and 2019 till date, total 16,828 operations were conducted which resulted in six killings, 55 apprehensions, and 176 surrenders of naxals besides, 97 Arms and 41 IEDs were recovered.
Mr Deshwal also said the Force is also providing VIP security cover to 14 protectees and complete security cover to Indian Embassy at Kabul and its four consulates there.
''We have also extended our support to the Kailash Mansarover Yatra, the Amranath Yatra and Char Dham Yatra and recently being a first respondent to the rescue operation in the Himalayan areas, we had successfully rescued the four international trekkers and retrieved the 11dead from the Uttarakhand'', he said.
To provide better education for ITBP personnel’s wards, there are 22 ITBP Public Schools are functional in which a total of 4300 students are studying in different classes. ''We have constructed two hostels one in ITBP Public School, Dwarka and second in Dehradun,'' Mr Deswal said.
