ITBP man Indo-China border despite harsh weather

Kerang (North Sikkim), Nov 8: Where ordinary mortals fear to tread, Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) jawans' love for motherland give them the motivation to stand tall and firm at these heights.

Presently, ITBP is manning 3448 km of Indo-China border starting from Karakoram Pass in Ladakh to Dipula in Arunachal Pradesh and majority of it falls in high altitude areas.

And it does not get any higher than at Kerang station (approx 17000 ft) and OP Dorjila observation post (18750 ft) in the Himalayan Range of North Sikkim. Both the posts are few kilometers away from the international border across the cold desert of Silsila pass.

Weather here is extremely harsh with temperatures dropping to minus 35 degrees Celsius and wind velocity upto 50 kms per hour.

With November just starting, these posts are already covered in snow.

At OP Dorjila, which is claimed to be the second highest outpost in the world after Siachen glacier, ITBP jawans brave the extreme climate to guard the border. It is an all weather outpost which means constant vigil is followed by the Himveers.

Some hundred feet below, the jawans stationed at Kerang outpost bravely withstand the adverse climatic conditions and perform their duties. At these altitudes, where one has difficulty in breathing, let alone walking, ITBP jawans along with their officers go for long range patrols and short range patrols on a regular basis. '' Long range patrols take upto 22 days and the teams take their foods, communication sets and sweep the cold desert border,'' told Commandant of 11th Battalion, ITBP Nirbhai Singh to media persons at Kerang.

Various physical and weapon activities were displayed at Kerang.

Himveers of the unit under Commandant A S Patial have apprehended eleven Tibetan intruders so far.

While interacting with the jawans, they said love for motherland gives them the motivation to stand tall and firm at these heights.

The highly specialised mountain training and high motivation levels make the ITBP jawans strong to withstand such adverse climatic conditions.

Mr Ranvir S Sharma, DIG, said ITBP has excelled in mountaineering and adventure sports like skiing and river rafting. It also has a unique distinction of climbing more than 144 Himalayan peaks including Mt Everest for six times and has also done well in skiing and river rafting.

ITBP also has busy in civic action programmes like free medical camps for border areas in Sikkim.

UNI