ITBP chief meets home minister, briefs him on security situation at India-China border

ITBP Director General (DG) S S Deswal Monday met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and briefed him about the prevailing situation along the India-China border, along with the ongoing Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and the rescue operation to retrieve bodies of eight mountaineers in Uttarakhand. Deswal also briefed Shah about various border area development and civic action programmes conducted by the Indo-Tibetan Border Police in frontier areas and in Naxal violence-hit states, a spokesperson for the border guarding force said.

This is the first meeting between the two after Shah was appointed the home minister. "The Director-General also briefed the home minister about the retrieval mission of the bodies of eight missing mountaineers from the Nanda Devi East peak in Uttarakhand and the support to the ongoing Kailash Mansarovar Yatra from two routes of Lipulekh and Nathu La pass respectively," the spokesperson said.

He added that the rescue teams in Uttarakhand could not make much progress on Monday to locate the body of the last and the eighth missing mountaineer as snowfall is being reported from the area. The climbers of the force on Sunday had recovered seven bodies, believed to be that of the foreign mountaineers who had gone missing on way to the Nanda Devi East peak in Uttarakhand last month. The bodies are expected to be brought to Pithoragarh through a helicopter mission, he said.

The about 90,000 personnel strong force is tasked to guard the 3,488 km long India-China border and is the lead contingency unit to conduct rescue and relief operations along with the Himalayan ranges.