"We are considering a restructuring plan. Under this plan the home ministry would ensure speedy and early clearance for 15 new battalions, a counter-insurgency and jungle warfare school, a high-altitude medical institute, and three recruit training centres," Chidambaram said at the 48th raising day of the ITBP.
"The plan includes measures to strengthen border posts," he added.
Advanced communication systems, surveillance equipment, water crafts, specialized vehicles and modern weaponry are also under consideration for the force, he added.
The ITBP was originally formed on October 24, 1962 for the security of the 5-km Indo-Tibet border that runs between Karakoram Pass and Lipulkeh Pass, along the tri-junction of India, Nepal and China.
According to ITBP officials, a comprehensive proposal for all this has been submitted to the home ministry in the wake of new responsibilities being given to the force. The ITBP has been asked to deploy four of its battalions for counter-insurgency operations in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
"No other paramilitary force has a jungle warfare school or a high-altitude medical institute so far. We have demanded this seeing our operational requirements," said a senior official of ITBP.
The minister also hinted at strengthening troop posts along the India-China border and acquisition of modern weaponry and specialised vehicles for troopers guarding the border.
"Various bottlenecks in the process of procurement and acquisition of essential items have been an impediment in the modernisation of the paramilitary forces. Therefore, the home ministry has enhanced the delegation of financial powers to its director generals," he said.
The ITBP has 45 battalions and four upgraded specialist battalions.
ITBP is the only central paramilitary force deployed along the Indo-China border.
Sat phones, oxygen cylinders for ITBP along Sino-India border
In an effort to strengthen its position along the Sino-Indian border, the government has decided to provide more than 100 satellite phones, all terrain vehicles and oxygen cylinders to the ITBP.
The troops deployed at icy-glacial heights will also get high-altitude clothing at par with Army soldiers who are deployed at the Siachin glacier.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has also sanctioned computers, recovery vehicles, fibre reinforced polymer huts, high-power snow cutters, deep search mine metal detectors, hand grenade stimulator's and other surveillance devices for the Indo-Tibetan Border Police troops.
Addressing his men before the 48th Raising Day of the force, ITBP Director-General Vikram Srivastava today said that the troops will also be provided with modern Border Out-Post (BOP) equipped with solar power generating apparatus.
"Every BOP will be provided with two 620 litres capacity oxygen cylinders. A number of such initiatives have been taken for the benefit of our troops posted at these difficult areas," Srivastava said.
The DG also said four battalions (4000 men) of the force would be soon inducted for anti-naxal operations in Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh.
The ITBP has also been sanctioned ration at par with the Army, he said.
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