WATCH: ITBP's celebrate Republic Day at minus 35°C, hoist flag at 15,000 feet

New Delhi, Jan 26: Soldiers from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police on Wednesday celebrated India's 73rd Republic Day with a unique march past on skis on the slopes of the Himalayas in Uttarakhand's Auli.

At freezing temperatures, the soldiers waved the national flag as they held a mini-parade of their own. In a video posted by news agency ANI, the ITBP contingent can be seen skiing down the slopes at a height of 11,000 feet at minus 20 degrees Celsius.

#WATCH Indo-Tibetan Border Police 'Himveers' celebrate the 73rd Republic Day at 11,000 feet in minus 20 degrees Celsius at Auli in Uttarakhand pic.twitter.com/1nhbrOWSp3

— ANI (@ANI) January 26, 2022

In another video, 'Himveers of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) celebrated RepublicDay at 15,000 feet altitude in -35 degree Celsius temperature at Ladakh borders.

आईटीबीपी के हिमवीरों का राष्ट्र को नमन

Happy Republic Day from #Himveers of ITBP

From #Ladakh#RepublicDay2022 #RepublicDay #गणतंत्रदिवस pic.twitter.com/bS1A8pnPlH

— ITBP (@ITBP_official) January 26, 2022

Eighteen personnel of the India-China LAC guarding force Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) have been decorated with various police service medals including gallantry decorations on the eve of Republic Day.

A notification issued by the Union home ministry on Tuesday stated that three personnel have been awarded the police medal for gallantry (PMG), three with the president's police medal for distinguished service and 12 with the police medal for meritorious service.

Among the distinguished service medal awardees is deputy inspector general (DIG) Ajay Pal Singh who joined the mountain-warfare trained force as an officer in 1990. Singh is currently posted at the ITBP officers' training academy in Mussoorie, Uttarakhand. He has served three tenures along the LAC in Arunachal Pradesh, Ladakh as well as counter-insurgency operations in Jammu and Kashmir apart from various training units of the force.

He has also served in the ITBP operations directorate at the force headquarters in Delhi and has been instrumental in bringing out the first-ever ITBP history book that was unveiled last year.

DIsG Ramakant Sharma and G C Upadhyay have also been awarded the distinguished service medal.

The about 90,000 personnel strong ITBP was raised in the aftermath of the 1962 India-China war and it is primarily tasked to guard the 3,488 km long Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China apart from rendering a variety of duties in the internal security domain of the country.