NEW DELHI: The Union Home Ministry is considering to raise more women contingents in the Indo-Tibetan Border Police(ITBP), who has been guarding sensitive posts along the Indo-China border.
According to a source, the Ministry has started working on the proposal after the success of the pilot project of ITBP where for the first time women soldiers, known as “Heem Veearngana” have been deputed to guard the Indo-China border.
Close to 800 women constables have been deployed at the height of 8,000 feet to 15,000 feet manning Border out Posts (BoP) in Ladakh frontier of Jammu and Kashmir.
A few have been posted at other locations in Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh including the ‘Mana pass’ border post, (the last village on the Indian side in Uttarakhand) along with the treacherous Sion-India border. These BoP are being guarded by women only.
The women contingent, trained in war craft and weapon firing from Basic Training Centre Chandigarh, have been posted after the border posts were made “gender neutral” and other facilities were created for them. Barracks are made to suit the height and separate toilets are made for them.
ITBP is working on a composite or integrated BoP which will be self sustainable. The new Border out Post will have insulated wall, window and roof, 24-hour water supply, grid independent solar electric power, solar powered radiant heating system which will reduce dependence on fossil fuels, and fresh air supply via geo thermal ducts .
The new infrastructure will have private space for each soldier, indoor multi-purpose hall for training and sports, green house and under-ground barracks for security. Around 50 such composite barracks are being made under “Make in India” initiatives.
“The women are happy and have adapted themselves well with climatic condition, no health issues have been reported so far,” said a senior officer of ITBP.
“It is definitely a matter of great pride that our women force is active in such hostile condition,” said a senior official in the Home Ministry. “Nowhere in the world, the women contingent is deployed on the combat zone for guarding border in such natural hostile condition at these height,” a top official of the ITBP said on the condition of anonymity.
There are other paramilitary forces who have also started deploying women contingent in guarding border post or in combat zone. The Central Reserve Police Force has been deployed its women platoon on patrolling in Naxal-affected areas of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand. Similarly, the women squads of Border Security Force (BSF) have been guarding the western border posts in Rajasthan.
The deployments of women troops in combat zone have been done at the behest of Home Ministry which decided to engage more women in combat role. The ITBP, BSF SSB(Sashatra Seema Bal) have been asked to engage 15 per cent of the women unit in combat role. (AGENCIES)
Trending Now
E-Paper
Follow our WhatsApp channel