India to fortify defence along China border, 54 new ITBP posts being planned in Arunachal Pradesh

New Delhi: In a major step to fortify defences along the China border, over 50 new border posts are being planned for the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) force in the north-eastern state of Arunachal Pradesh.

Official sources said a proposal for creating 54 modern posts for the ITBP is under consideration of the Union Home Ministry after the border guarding force recently submitted a proposal in this regard.

“The Home Ministry has in principle given its nod for the proposal which is being processed,” the sources said.

Arunachal Pradesh shares a total of 1,126 km of its international border with China, second in length after Jammu and Kashmir which has a 1,597 km long frontier with India’s eastern neighbour.

As part of modernisation and better border management planning of Indian security mechanism along this border, prone to a spate of incursions, the posts will be, under the proposal, equipped with all the basic gadgets that the troops require to position themselves at these icy heights.

“The new border posts will be solar powered and have space to not only accommodate the regular ITBP guards but also to house a small squad of reinforcements in case of emergencies. The posts will have satellite phone connectivity,” the sources said.

At present, India has 142 border posts along this 3,488 km long frontier with other border states being Himachal Pradesh (200 km), Uttarakhand (345 km) and Sikkim (220 km).

Arunachal Pradesh, at present, has close to 30 ITBP border posts but a need has been felt to bolster the presence of the paramilitary men in order to meet border challenges and future commitments, they said.