Watching China border: CCS clears high resolution cameras for ITBP

Sources told The Indian Express that the cameras will be among key technical equipment being procured under the plan.

“As of now, the cameras have a zoom-in feature of 40-50 megapixel. But the force has decided to procure cameras with a zoom-in feature of 100 megapixel. All these cameras will be used in border areas for surveillance,” sources said.

Along with the Army, the ITBP is responsible for guarding 3,488 km of the India-China border and manning 180 Border Out Posts (BOPs) at altitudes ranging from 9,000-18,750 ft in the western, middle and eastern Himalayas — from Karakoram Pass in Ladakh to Bum La in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Army guards land along the Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan, with the BSF — and the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, with the ITBP.

On December 9, in the latest flashpoint at the India-China border, troops from both sides clashed in Arunachal Pradesh’s Tawang sector, beating each other with sticks and canes in the closest such encounter since the deadly Galwan incident in eastern Ladakh in June 2020.

The ITBP had been allocated Rs 7,461.28 crore from the Centre in the Budget for this fiscal compared to Rs 6,965.02 crore last time. “In keeping with the increasingly important and high-risk roles being performed by the CAPFs (Central Armed Police Forces) in maintaining internal security and guarding of borders, there has been a corresponding increase in Budget provisions for actual expenditure over the past 10 financial years,” MHA officials said.

The officials said weapons, equipment and vehicles procured by CAPFs under modernisation plan-III included multi-grenade launchers, under-barrel grenade launchers, assault rifles, 9-mm SMG beretta guns, and bomb detection and disposal equipment.

They also obtained network operating center (NOC) vehicles, mine-protected vehicles, medium and light bulletproof vehicles, mini remote-operated vehicles (ROVs) and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The list also included special lightweight rucksacks, lightweight sleeping bags, twin-engine FRP speed boats and hand-held satellite trackers. “Since modernisation plan-III came to an end on December 31, 2021, modernisation plan-IV for CAPFs was approved by CCS to be implemented till March 31, 2026,” the officials said.