New Delhi: The IAF may have compromised the
security of scores of sensitive Army posts in Jammu and
Kashmir and North-East by disclosing their specific locations.
The IAF has given away the sensitive details about exact
locations of Army forward bases, including their altitude
along the border with China and Pakistan in a commercial open
tender on its website.
The tender was issued earlier this month by the IAF to
hire private and public sector helicopters for ferrying Army
troops and cargo to forward bases in J&K and Arunachal
Pradesh.
In the 30-page Request for Proposal (RFP), the IAF has
given the exact latitude and longitude of helipads and the
requirements for the loads to be carried to those bases. It
also gives out the details of the heights at which the
helipads are located.
When asked, senior Army officers said "such details were
classified in nature and should not have been given out in an
open tender."
However, IAF officials were not forthcoming with a
reaction on how this information about the Army locations was
put out in public domain.
The 84 helipads, whose details have been given out, are
located in places including Kishtwar, Kupwara, Tangdhar,
Kanzalwan, Parkian Gali in Jammu and Kashmir and Tawang,
Daporjo, Bhawani Drop Zone, Yangtze, Forward Post Tapukhar and
Taksing in Arunachal Pradesh near the Chinese boundary.
The RFP also gives out the dimensions of the helipads
located in the sensitive areas in these two areas.
PTI
