Kolkata: Lt Gen RC Tiwari, GOC-in-C, Eastern Command, visited the Doka La Sector in Sikkim on Tuesday to review operational preparedness. He was accompanied by Air Marshal Surat Singh, AOC-in-C, Eastern Air Command and Lt Gen Zubin A Minwalla, GOC, Trishakti Corps, Indian Army.
Doka La is a strategic tri-junction between India, Bhutan and China’s Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). In 2017, troops of the Indian Army and the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China were engaged in a stand-off in the Doklam Plateau for over two months.
This happened after PLA troops were spotted, moving southward along the Plateau with heavy construction equipment. They planned to build a road in the Plateau that is owned by Bhutan. Indian troops moved in to obstruct the Chinese as a road to the South would bring the PLA closer to India’s defences along the eastern and northeastern sectors.
India’s strategic Chicken Neck Corridor along Siliguri – that connects the northeastern states to the rest of the country – would also be at threat, if the PLA were to consider over running whatever resistance Bhutan can offer and move further south.
The two sides withdrew in August 2017, but tension continues to prevail in the area. China is known to have built massive infrastructure on its land, to the north of Doklam. India has also improved connectivity to the Doka La Sector, enabling the movement of heavy equipment, including battle tanks to the area at short notice.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has a major role to play in the sector, hence the AOC-in-C’s presence. The IAF has a squadron of Rafale multi-role fighters based at Hasimara, just on the border with Bhutan, to tackle any eventuality.
In a post on ‘X’, the Army’s Eastern Command stated: “The Army Commander commended the professionalism and dedication of the troops, emphasizing the importance of maintaining moral ascendancy and ensuring the highest level of operational readiness to achieve battlefield dominance.”
