New Delhi: Amid the India-China standoff, as many as 60 companies of the Indo-Tibet Border Police (ITBP) are being deployed at grey zones along the LAC.
According to reports, the paramilitary force is unlikely to get assigned in the internal security duties, for now, sources told ETV Bharat on Tuesday.
The grey zones refer to areas where the forces from both India and China patrol and come face to face. Currently, the Army and ITBP jointly patrol the grey zones.
"About 40 companies of the ITBP have already reached border battalion camps in various states and the troops are now being quarantined before their deployment at the forward bases to avoid any chances of contact in COVID-19," said sources.
Sources added that the force is also set to get sanctions from the Union Home Ministry to raise at least nine fresh battalions soon. Notably, ITBP has inducted about 30 fresh companies (around 3000 persons).
Read:ITBP scales up LAC presence amid COVID-19 precautions
Along the 3,488 km LAC that stretches from Karakoram Pass in Ladakh to Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh, as many as 60 companies of the ITBP have been ordered to be deployed across 180 border posts and over 50 'staging camps' or temporary bases.
Sources in the Union Home Ministry said that most of the ITBP personnel deployed in law and order duties are likely to be moved to be to the various points along the LAC and the upcoming Bihar Assembly polls will be be held majorly under the control of the state police or other paramilitary force like CRPF.
An ITBP company has an operational strength of about 100 personnel. Out of the 60, about 40 companies have already reached border battalion camps in various states and the troops are undergoing acclimatisation and COVID-19 quarantine before they are sent to forward bases.
The mountain-warfare trained force has 60 operational battalions in total with 56 being regular units and four for logistics like transport and weapons. Out of the 60 battalions, eight units are deployed for anti-Naxal operations in Rajnandgaon, Kondagaon and Narayanpur districts of Chhattisgarh.
Read:ITBP jawans intensify training amid ongoing China tension
Some of its units are also tasked for VIP security duties, protecting about a dozen high-risk persons like veteran BJP leader Murli Manohar Joshi and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah among others while a contingent drawn from its Delhi-NCR units guards the Rashtrapati Bhavan.
The force was raised in the aftermath of the 1962 Chinese aggression and its posts are located between 9,000 feet-18,700 feet in the western, middle and eastern sectors of this front.
Meanwhile, the army sources told that the disengagement process between armies of India and China at friction points Hot Springs and Gogra began on Monday and is expected to be completed at both locations in next few days.
Under the mutual disengagement, both sides will disengage and move back by 1-1.5 km from the friction points, said sources.
