Mumbai, Mar 25: The southern command, the biggest command in the Indian Army encompassing 34 per cent of the country, is fencing the borders with Pakistan in Rajasthan on lines of the project in progress in Jammu and Kashmir, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief(GOC-in-C) Lt Gen B S Takhar said here today.
In an informal chat with reporters during his visit to the headquarters of the Maharashtra and Gujarat area, Lt Gen Takhar said that with the fencing in the Raan of Kutch and part of the Barmer sector in Rajasthan, the major part of the 450-500 km borders with the neighbouring country had been completed.
''Further up there has been problem with the soil conditions, but a solution has been found to finish the fencing work'', the army commander said, adding that full fencing of the borders on the western front would be completed by 2005.
Replying to a question, Lt Gen Takhar said the infiltration from the Pakistan side had come down substantially since the launch of 'Operation Parakram' after the attack on the Indian Parliament.
''Today, infiltration is minimal'', he claimed and added in a lighter vein, ''yes, the on-going cricket series between India and Pakistan, revived after 15 years, has definitely promoted peace between the two neighbours''. To another query on the induction of the indigenously built main battle tank (MBT) 'Arjun', Lt Gen Takhar said that 14 serialised tanks had already been inducted into the Indian Army, with another 120 Arjun tanks, now under construction, to be inducted in the second phase.
When asked why the army had gone in for the Russian built t-90 tanks if 'Arjun' had fully met the Indian Army's requirements, the army commander said that it was the requirement.
''The T-90's would be replacing the aged T-55 and other earlier series of tanks in use by the Indian Army'', he said.
Bureau Report