The creation of seven new battalions and a sector headquarters has strengthened the plan and enhanced the force’s reach and supervision in forward areas: ITBP Director General Praveen Kumar
NEW DELHI: The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) is establishing 10 all-women Border Out Posts (BOPs) along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) on the challenging and icy India-China frontier as part of its ambitious “forwardisation” plan.
ITBP Director General Praveen Kumar announced the initiative during the force’s 64th Raising Day parade held in Jammu on Saturday. “We have worked on the forwardiation plan and, as a result, the number of forward-deployed BOPs has increased to 215 from 180,” he said.
He added that the creation of seven new battalions and a sector headquarters has strengthened the plan and enhanced the force’s reach and supervision in forward areas.
The expansion of forward posts follows the 2020 military clash in Ladakh, after which the force pushed its deployments further along India’s northern and eastern frontiers. In 2023, the Union home ministry sanctioned seven additional battalions and a sector office comprising about 9,400 personnel for the ITBP.
The DG said the force plans to establish 41 more forward bases along the LAC in the near future to bolster “security and coordination.”
As part of efforts to expand the role of women combatants, the ITBP is setting up two all-women BOPs in Ladakh’s Lukung and Thangi in Himachal Pradesh, with eight more all-women posts to be made operational subsequently.
The ITBP chief said the force’s training institutions have been “reorganised,” and five new skilling modules, covering areas such as mountain warfare and tactical survival, have been introduced.
The ITBP, with a strength of over one lakh personnel, mans border posts located at altitudes between 9,000 and over 14,000 feet, where troops routinely contend with extreme weather and low oxygen levels.
