Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a bitter standoff in several areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh since May 5.
The Indian Army has started preparing for a long haul of winters in the Eastern Ladakh sector amid a faceoff with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
The snowfall is expected to start soon in the Eastern Ladakh area where the temperature is already low.
Ahead of this, the Army has asked its defence attaches posted in embassies in the United States, Russia and Europe to identify warm clothes and snow tent manufacturers as there may be a need for emergency purchases, reported Hindustan Times citing top government officials.
Besides placing orders with domestic manufacturers to tackle the winter clothing requirement of the troops in the Eastern Ladakh, the Army has also asked troops other than those stationed on Saltoro ridge and Siachen glacier to give up extreme snow clothing, said the report quoting an Army commander.
Explaining it further, the commander said even troops at Partapur and Thoise are allowed Siachen clothing, but the height of the two bases is the same as Leh.
“So in the worst-case scenario we will ask Partapur and Thoise troops to give up their down jackets, trousers, gloves, boots and goggles to their fellow jawans being posted up on the occupied Aksai Chin front,” the Army commander told the publication.
Indian and Chinese troops have been locked in a bitter standoff in several areas along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh since May 5. The situation deteriorated after the June 15 Galwan Valley clashes in which 20 Indian Army personnel were killed and an unconfirmed number of Chinese soldiers died.