OUR CORRESPONDENT
ITANAGAR: The Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel, known as Himveers, have scaled 75 peaks during a 75-day relay long-range patrol (LRP) along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China to mark Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav celebrations, according to its spokesperson Vivek Kumar Pandey.
The LRP along 3,488-km LAC, which started from Karakoram Pass in Ladakh on August 1, would terminate at Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh on October 14 next after covering a distance of about 7,575-km across the borders, Pandey said.
The ITBP, a specialized mountain force with a majority of officers trained in mountaineering, guards 3,488-km Indo-China border from Ladakh's Karakoram Pass to Jachep La in Arunachal Pradesh with posts located up to 18,500ft height where the temperature goes down to minus 40°C. It has 39 permanent defence positions along the LAC.
The mountain expedition, christened Amritarohan, was launched at various locations along the eastern front while targeted peaks were located in vicinity of 75 ITBP border posts spread along Indo-China LAC), Pandey said.
Of these, 33 peaks were in Ladakh, 16 in Uttarakhand, 11 in Sikkim, 10 in Himachal Pradesh, and five in Arunachal Pradesh. The Himveers scaled 75 different peaks, including at the tallest peak of Mana Pass at a height of 18,750 feet in Sikkim, on August 15 last to create a unique record of hoisting the Indian flag simultaneously, he said.
It may be recalled that ITBP central mountaineering team had scaled 20,177-feet Karzok-Kangri peak in Ladakh in February last braving extreme weather condition. The team led by ace mountaineer commandant Ratan Singh Sonal and deputy commandant Anup Negi ascended Mount Kangri, located in cold desert of Ladakh where minimum temperature is minus 40°C.
The 90,000 personnel-strong ITBP, raised in the aftermath of 1962 Chinese aggression, besides guarding the LAC is deployed on various internal security duties.
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