PANAGARH: Army chief General Bipin Rawat took stock of the operational preparedness of the Brahmastra Corps at Panagarh in Burdwan, West Bengal on Wednesday. The Brahmastra Corps or XVII Corps under the Eastern Command is the country’s first Mountain Strike Corps that was raised for defence of India’s norther borders. Earlier this year, there was speculation that the government has stopped the Corps’ raising due to the huge costs involved. Gen Rawat’s visit seems to lay to rest such apprehensions.

“The Army chief was briefed by Lt Gen P N Rao, GOC, Brahmastra Corps, on operational and administrative preparedness of the formation. Gen Rawat was accompanied by Lt Gen Abhay Krishna, GOC-in-C, Eastern Command. The Chief of Army Staff interacted with senior military commanders and took a first-hand assessment of the situation. He also appreciated the high standards of operational readiness of the Corps to meet any emerging challenge,” a senior official in the Eastern Command said.

The Mountain Strike Corps, comprising nearly 30 mountain infantry battalions, has aviation, artillery and armoured brigades attached to it. It also has teams of high-altitude Special Forces. In 2013, the Cabinet Committee on Security had approved the creation of the Corps with 90,000 troops at a cost of nearly Rs 60,000 crore.

“The Corps is not only a quick reaction force but a counter-offensive one as well. It has been strategically headquartered in Panagarh where the Indian Air Force’s C-130J strategic lift aircraft are also based. These aircraft can reach locations along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) within an hour and land at high-altitude advanced landing grounds,” another official said.

