ITBP TO ENHANCE INTEL GATHERING
GREATER NOIDA: The ITBP has drafted a proposal to enhance its surveillance and intelligence gathering skills along the China border even as it has for the first-time introduced ‘war games’ exercises for its commanders to better prepare them for all types of conflicts on the disputed and icy terrain, officials said Thursday.
Officiating at the 57th raising day of the force here, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said the government has also decided to create ‘integrated composite border posts’ for Indo-tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in forward areas so that troops deployed in these hard areas and amid subzero temperatures are able to get water in liquid form and the temperature inside is controlled at 20-22 degrees.
Chief of the force R K Pachnanda said they have sent a proposal to the Union home ministry for implementing a comprehensive integrated border management system (CIBMS) along the 3,488-km Sino-india border so that all tech-based tools for border guarding are collaborated for better results.
A senior official said the aim of the project is to integrate the surveillance gadgets, long range reconnaissance devices, radars and cameras onto a smart platform so that technology and gadgets will man large areas of this inhospitable terrain, on similar lines of what has been deployed as part of a ‘smart fence’ pilot project by the BSF along the Pakistan border.
The areas which are snowladen, face arduous climate and are in hard mountainous terrain can be covered by the CIBMS project and an eye can be kept on any movement at this frontier, he said.
The 90,000-strong force has also decided to introduce war games exercises, by way of tech-enabled tools, for its commanders as part of their refresher courses and training curriculum. This entails testing the decision making skills of military formation leaders over a simulated presentation of a war or conflict-like situation.
In order to enhance its footprint along this border, the border guarding force has also begun opening ‘tactical headquarters’ for all of its border units along the India-china border. Tactical headquarters is a base which is located deep inside the border area and is operated by a senior officer and his armed contingent.