All border guarding forces to march in R-Day parade this year

New Delhi, Jan 2 : Marching contingents of all border guarding forces — the BSF, the ITBP and the SSB — will be seen marching down on Rajpath during January 26 parade after a gap of two years, an official said on Tuesday.

Each contingent of the three paramilitary forces will comprise 144 personnel, while the band contingent will have 80-90 personnel.

The marching contingents of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and the Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) was missing from the last two Republic Day parades, while the Border Security Force’s (BSF) marching contingent was missing from last year’s parade though its camel contingent participated.

As part of a new rotation policy of paramilitary forces’ squads at the parade, the contingents of two other forces — the Central Reserve Police Force and the Central Industrial Security Force — have been taken out of the event this time, the official said.

The Defence Ministry, which organises the event, formulated the new policy for the Central Armed Police Forces’ contingents taking part in the Republic Day parade.

“The paramilitary force’s headquarters have asked the Home Ministry to get this arrangement reviewed, but nothing concrete has taken place till now. This was the reason the border guarding forces of ITBP, SSB and BSF could not take part in the event in the recent past,” said another official close to the development.

This year, the BSF, amongst the three paramilitary forces, will have the largest presence with its famed camel contingent, camel-mounted band, a marching contingent along with its own band and the bike-borne ‘Janbaaz (daredevils)’ team.

The ITBP and the SSB will have their foot and band contingents marching down from the Raisina Hills to the 17th century Red Fort.

IANS