Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Aug 23: Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag today reviewed operational preparedness of the Army along both Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China in Ladakh and Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir at Leh during his two days visit to Ladakh from today.
Parrikar addressed the troops in high altitude Leh and reviewed security situation in the entire State including recent ceasefire violations on the LoC in twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch with Gen Suhag, Northern Army Command chief Lt Gen DS Hooda, GOC Leh based 14 Corps Lt Gen SK Patyal and other senior Commanders of the Army.
Parrikar will tomorrow attend Yog Guru Swami Ramdev’s yoga session at Leh before flying back to New Delhi.
Official sources told the Excelsior that Parrikar also visited Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR), a unit of Defence and Research Development Organisation (DRDO), in Leh and saw new products developed by the organisation including organic apricot.
In his meeting with top Army Commanders in Leh, Parrikar called for giving befitting reply to ceasefire violations of Pakistan army on the LoC and thwart infiltration attempts under the cover of shelling and firing from across the LoC. Gen Suhag and Lt Gen Hooda gave detailed briefing to the Defence Minister on situation prevailing along the LoC especially in the wake of recent heavy shelling in Poonch district in which six civilians were killed and over 20 others were injured. They briefed Parrikar that Pakistan army also tried to facilitate infiltration attempts on the LoC during intense shelling but the plot was foiled.
Calling for zero infiltration on the LoC with maintenance of strict surveillance on the Pakistan army and the militant groups, the Defence Minister called for giving effective reply to Pakistani troops if they violated the ceasefire agreement.
“The infiltration attempts shouldn’t be allowed to succeed at any cost,” he told the top Army Commanders, who briefed Parrikar that large group of militants were trying to infiltrate into the Indian territory from the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir.
The Defence Minister asked the troops to maintain high alert on the LoC as in the wake of failure of NSA level talks between India and Pakistan, the latter could resort to misadventure on the borders and “our troops should be ready to meet with any kind of situation”.
Sources said GOC Leh based 14 Corps Lt Gen SK Patyal briefed the Defence Minister on preparedness of the troops along LAC with China in Leh district.
“India is deeply concerned about development of infrastructure by China on their side of the LAC opposite Leh district. The Central Government has also taken series of initiatives to develop infrastructure on this side of the LAC to match strength of the neighbour,” sources said, adding the Defence Minister was briefed on opening of new Border Point Meeting (BPM) recently between Indian Army and China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Sources said overall security scenario on the LoC and LAC came up for high level discussion during the meeting the Defence Minister had with the Army Commanders.
Earlier, he addressed the Army troops in Leh and lauded their courage and devotion while working in such high altitude of Ladakh. He called upon the Army soldiers to continue to work with same commitment and dedication.
The Defence Minister was scheduled to visit Drass exactly a month ago i.e. July 23 to mark `Vijay Divas’ celebrations of Army in Kargil district but had to return from Srinagar due to bad weather conditions. Earlier, he had visited Leh and Siachen base camp.
Sources said the frequent visits of the Defence Minister to Leh clearly indicated that the Centre was deeply concerned about the building of infrastructure on the LAC with China as previous Governments hadn’t focused on this even as China continued to develop its areas opposite the LAC in Leh.
Meanwhile, DRDO has now roped in yoga guru Ramdev’s Patanjali Ayurveda Limited to manufacture and market in the country and abroad some herbal supplements and food products developed by it.
DRDO today entered into licensing agreements with Ramdev’s company for transfer of Seabuckthorn technology based products developed by Defence Institute of High Altitude Research (DIHAR).
The technology has been transferred under the DRDO FICCI ATAC (Accelerated Technology Assessment & Commercialisation) programme that has been established to identify spin-off technologies for commercial markets within India and abroad, with a special focus on social benefit technologies, an official statement said.
DIHAR, a frontier laboratory of DRDO which is located in Leh with detachments in the strategic Siachen sector has pioneered cold arid-agro animal technologies for augmenting local availability of fresh food in the region.
The laboratory, through its translational laboratory to land approach, develops technologies for fresh food cultivation, poultry, goat and dairy farming and green house cultivation which are disseminated to the local farmers.
Speaking on the occasion, Manohar Parrikar said seabuckthorn is a unique product.
“Apart from what has been commercialised, there are many more applications which Patanjali Ayurveda could explore to exploit the full potential of Seabuckthorn,” he said.
Parrikar wanted Patanjali Ayurveda to bring many more health products to exploit the full potential of the technologies beyond what DIHAR has found out.
He added that DRDO in collaboration with FICCI under DRDO FICCI ATAC programme is striving to commercialise more and more spin off technologies for the benefit of society at large.
DRDO chief S Cristopher mentioned that DIHAR has been relentlessly working for development of products which in addition to their usefulness for Armed Forces has tremendous commercial potential in India and abroad.
“The benefits of the research done by DIHAR will help the local population to derive the economic benefits,” he said.
While giving an overview, Bhuvnesh Kumar, Director, DIHAR said that the farmers adopt the technologies developed by his scientists and sell their produce to the Army.
“This unique approach not only results in local availability of fresh food but also results in socio-economic development of Ladakh and stronger civil-military cooperation in this strategically important region,” the statement quoted him as saying.
Follow our WhatsApp channel