The 45th battalion of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) — first of its kind in South India — would come up on a 80-acre complex at a cost of about Rs. 3 crore at Edayapatti in the district, said ITBP Director General R.K. Bhatia here on Friday.
The ITBP Battalion's presence in such a location would not only help rotate the personnel for posting in different areas but also facilitate in moving the force swiftly to other States to attend to internal security duties, he told reporters after participating in the ‘bhoomi puja.'
About 20 such battalions were created in the last three to four years in different parts of the country. “We are recruiting personnel from all States, including a large number from southern States,” he said.
“The ITBP used to deploy its personnel in the plains after they completed two years in border outposts, the reason why we needed locations such as Edayapatti. Fortunately, in Madurai, we have been allotted a good piece of land,” he said.
A training centre of the ITBP would also come up in the adjoining Sivaganga district. “We are in the process of beginning work there. It will be an advantage to have the training centre close to the battalion.”
Later, speaking to ‘The Hindu,' he said that they ‘bhoomi pujas' would be performed for establishing battalions at Belgaum in Karnataka and Bhubaneswar in Orissa. In about four to five years, complete infrastructure would be in place at Edayapatti, while in six months from now, semi-permanent structures would be ready for operational purposes.
Bedises Shivpuri in Madhya Pradesh, it would be a permanent battalion. “Only when there is rotation in the border, our personnel could be rotated company wise. We would like to send them to places nearer to their home base.”
Apart from senior officers from the ITBP, including Inspector General of Police Pramod Asthana, DIGs of Police I.S. Negi and Sushil Kumar, others present a the ‘bhoomi puja' were Commissioner of Police P. Balasubramanian, DIG of Police Sandeep Mittal, Superintendent of Police M. Manohar and Assistant Commandant I. Solairaja.
