Kolkata: At a time when India is engaged in a serious conflict with Pakistan on its northern border, the Indian Army has announced its decision to bring back one of its key formations: XVII Mountain Strike Corps, the first of its kind, from Jharkhand to its original place in West Bengal in a significant move to tackle any future threat from Pakistan’s ally: China on its eastern border.
The China-specific XVII Mountain Strike Corps, known as the Brahmastra Corps, was initially proposed with 90,000 troops in 2013 during the Congress-led UPA rule to be raised with its headquarters at Panagarh in Burdwan of West Bengal under the Eastern Command where the second C130J Super Hercules squadron: Raiding Raptors of the Indian Air Force is also based to support the Army formation.
The flying time between the Panagarh air base and the Indo-China border is merely an hour. But lack of budgetary allocations with the change of power at the Centre forced the Army to shift XVII Mountain Strike Corps to Ranchi in Jharkhand a few years ago.
The XVII Mountain Strike Corps includes elite Para (Special Forces) commandos and other important formations of armoured brigades, artillery and aviation of the Army.
On Wednesday, the Fort William headquartered Eastern Command informed about the XVII Corps’ return to the Panagarh military station where its General Officer Commanding-in-Chief (GOC-in-C) Lieutenant General Manoj Mukund Naravane visited and met GOC (Brahmastra Corps) Lt Gen P. N. Rao.
The Army commander took stock of the situation during his visit.
The Eastern Command stated, “The Corps which was raised at Ranchi will shortly be shifting to Panagarh. The Army Commander reviewed the security situation and operational preparedness of the formation. He emphasised the need to be ready at all times to meet the emerging security challenges. The General Officer Commanding-in-Chief also interacted with the troops and appreciated their continued efforts in developing the military station.”
According to sources, the XVII Corps headquarters is expected to be moved to Panagarh within this year itself followed by troop movements at the divisional level.
