New command structure for ITBP from April

Vijay Mohan
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, January 21

The Indo-Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP), mandated for the peacetime management of the border with China, will have a new command structure from April 1, with the force’s border guarding elements being segregated into two commands, one for the western theatre and the other for the eastern theatre.

According to instructions issued by the ITBP Directorate General this week, the Western Command and the Eastern Command will comprise two Frontier Headquarters each. A frontier, headed by an officer of the rank of IG will have three Sector Headquarters, headed by a Deputy Inspector General and comprising three to four battalions under them.

A command will be headed by an officer of the rank of Additional Director General (ADG). Sources said that positioning of officers for these posts would be done once the pending cadre review is finalised. In addition, an ADG posted at force headquarters in Delhi will exercise control over the Bhopal-based Central frontier and some other establishments. Consequently, Western Command will have 25 battalions and Eastern Command 19 battalions, and ADG, Delhi, 12 battalions and four specialist battalions under their command.

At present, the force is divided into five frontiers that report directly to the Force Headquarters, along with other training, logistic and administrative establishments, through an Additional Director General based in Delhi. The ITBP has a total strength of 56 service battalions and four specialist battalions, of which 32 are deployed in border-guarding duties, 11 in internal security and eight in anti-Naxal operations.

The Western Command will control the Dehradun-based Northern Frontier comprising of Shimla, Dehradun and Bareilly sectors and the North-West Frontier, presently at Chandigarh, that comprises Srinagar and Ladakh sectors.

The North-West Frontier is being relocated from Chandigarh to Leh with effect from April to better exercise command and control over ITBP units in the area. The MHA had approved the move in February 2015, but it could not be implemented due to administrative reasons. The establishment of a new sector headquarters at Almora had been approved earlier, but was kept in abeyance since 2014. This is now being revived and moved to Chandigarh as a new Sector Headquarters with a battalion each at Jalandhar, Ludhiana and Patiala. Sector Headquarters Delhi with four battalions, is being moved out from the jurisdiction of the North-West Frontier and is being placed under the control of IG (Headquarters) functioning under the ADG, Delhi.