LEH: Lieutenant Governor Brigadier (Dr) BD Mishra on Monday reviewed the security situation in forward areas of Ladakh with Lt Gen Rashim Bali, the General Officer Commanding of Fire & Fury Corps, briefing him on the operational preparedness of the troops stationed along the Line of Actual Control with China, especially in the eastern part of Ladakh.
The meeting came days after the centre government’s back-to-back meetings on the Ladakh situation, of which LG Mishra was a part, and the visits of the top brass of Army in the forward areas in eastern and northern sub-sector of Ladakh.
“Lt Gen Rashim Bali, GOC XIV Corps called on Lieutenant Governor Brig (Dr) BD Mishra at Raj Niwas today,” said an official spokesperson on Monday.
The two discussed at length the obtaining situation along the Line of Actual Control in the union territory of Ladakh, officials informed, adding that situation in eastern Ladakh remained at the focus of the meeting.
Lt Gen Rashim Bali, who recently took over the strategic Fire & Fury Corps, briefed LG Mishra of the operational preparedness of the soldiers posted in Ladakh along the borders with China and Pakistan, The Earth News has learnt.
The duo also discussed the fast-pacing of various infrastructure projects, besides enhancing the connectivity in forward areas along the border with China in Ladakh.
It may be mentioned here that on Tuesday, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had chaired a high-level meeting in this regard which was attended by Ladakh Lieutenant Governor Brigadier B D Mishra, besides National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff General Anil Chauhan, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal VR Chaudhari, Chief of the Army Staff General Manoj Pande, Defence Secretary GiridharAramane and among other senior ministers.The meeting had decided to take up the projects in Ladakh at the top priority for their early completion in view of the heightened tension with China along the Line of Actual Control.
Lt Gen Bali, along with the Northern Army CommanderLieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi who camped in Ladakh last week, had made multiple visits to forward areas.
The two had reviewed the operational preparedness of troops and exhorted them to strive for excellence on Wednesday, a day before they reviewed the security situation in Northern Sub Sector in Ladakh. The two had also met Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP)and Border Roads Organisation (BRO) personnel in forward areas at Line of Actual Control.
They made another visit to forward posts in Siachen and reviewed operational preparedness in the world’s highest battlefield, which was also the first port of call of Lt General Rashim Bali who took over as the corps commander of the strategically based XIV Corps of the Army last week.
Officials said that Lt Gen Bali briefed LG Mishra of their assessment of the situation and commended the vital contributions of troops stationed at Line of Actual Control in strengthening India’s border defence.
Last week, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had termed the situation along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh as ‘very fragile’, saying that it has been further made ‘quite dangerous’ in military assessment because of close deployments of troops of both sides in some pockets.
The minister’s comments have come a day after Army Chief Gen Manoj Pande said that the situation along the LAC is stable but there is a need to keep a “very close watch” on it.
“As far as the deployment of forces by the adversary is concerned, there has been no significant reduction in the deployment. There is a great focus on modernization of forces, especially those deployed opposite the LAC,” Gen Pande had said.
The Indian and Chinese troops are locked in a standoff for the past three years at certain friction points in eastern Ladakh even as the two sides completed disengagement of troops from several areas following extensive diplomatic and military talks.
The ties between the two countries nosedived significantly following the fierce clash in the Galwan Valley in June 2020 that marked the most serious military conflict between the two sides in decades.As a result of a series of military and diplomatic talks, the two sides completed the disengagement process in 2021 on the north and south banks of the Pangong lake and in the Gogra area.
 BD Mishra on Monday reviewed the security situation in forward areas of Ladakh with Lt Gen Rashim Bali, the General Officer Commanding of Fire & Fury Corps, briefing him on the operational preparedness of the troops stationed along the Line of Actual Control with China, especially in the eastern part of Ladakh.){kind=link}