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The Central government on Wednesday gave its approval for raising of seven additional Battalions of Indo-Tibetan Border (ITBP) for the India-China border-- a move which will increase the strength of the Central Armed Police Force (CAPF) to more than 10 per cent, top government sources said.
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) gave the approval to raise these seven Battalions for the India-China Line of Actual Control (LAC) guarding ITBP force which will man the 47 new Border Out Posts (BOPs) and 12 staging camps on the border with China. The move was taken considering the fact that the armies of India and China are engaged in a standoff in Ladakh since 2020. The ITBP was raised in the aftermath of the 1962 Chinese aggression and it is tasked to guard the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC) on India's eastern flank. Besides raising of seven additional Battalions, the CCS has also given approval to the set-up of one Sector Headquarter of ITBP. The proposal was cleared after the meeting of the cabinet that was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. "The CCS took th decision in view of its January 2020 decision when it had approved establishments of 47 new Border Out Posts and 12 staging camps keeping in view the need for more effective border surveillance," a government source, privy to the development, told ANI. As the construction of these new BOPs and staging camps is in progress, these will require additional manpower for which it has been decided to raise seven new Battalions, said the source. Along with this, the source said, an additional Sector Headquarters will also be established for the supervision of these seven Battalions. It is learnt that these additional seven Battalions will be raised for Arunachal Pradesh and that raising of these seven additional Batttalions and the Sector Headquarter will be completed by 2025-26, said the source. "A total of 9,400 posts will be created for these seven Battalions and the new Sector Headquarter," another source said. ITBPs current sanctioned strength is 88,430. With this move, the total strength of the ITPB will be 97,830. The main role of ITBP is to guard the India-China border. For this, 176 BOPs of ITBP have been established at present. For this, the sources said, non-expenditure of 1808.15 crores is estimated on the construction of office and residential buildings, land acquisition and purchase of arms and ammunition. "And there will be a recurring expenditure of 963.68 crores per year on salaries, ration etc. of the personnel," the source added. (ANI)
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