7 new battalions, 9,400 jawans for ITBP to man LAC

NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet on Wednesday sanctioned seven new battalions and an operational border base with a fresh strength of 9,400 personnel for the India-China LAC guarding force Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), officials said.

The proposal was cleared after the meeting of the cabinet that was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

According to the government sanction, the fresh manpower will be utilised for manning 47 new border posts and a dozen ‘staging camps’ or troops bases along this frontier. The armies of India and China are engaged in a standoff in Ladakh since 2020.

The 90,000-strong ITBP was raised in the aftermath of the 1962 Chinese aggression and it is tasked to guard the 3,488-km Line of Actual Control on India’s eastern flank.