Mountain Strike Corps size to be cut

The defence ministry is likely to downsize the Indian Army's Mountain Strike Corps that is being raised to fight the enemy in the hilly regions of the northeast and north.

“We will have to work out the size of the corps. It can't be the same size as initially approved (by the Cabinet Committee on Security). We will have to trim it down,” Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar said in an interview.

In July 2013 the CCS cleared the raising of Army’s first Mountain Strike Corps (17 Corps) along the China border in the northeast, reflecting India's widening strategic horizon.
Expected to cost Rs 65,000 crores and comprising more than 80,000 men, the proposed attack force has its temporary headquarters in Ranchi but would eventually shift to Panagarh in West Bengal.

Parrikar claimed his predecessor A K Antony did not apply his mind on the cost implications of raising the force. “Whatever was there on the CCS note, it was approved without the calculation,” Parrikar said. Almost 60 per cent of its budget – about Rs 39,000 crore – was meant for infrastructure development.