PM Modi to visit Siachen Glacier with army chief, address India's bravest sons

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit the Siachen Glacier today during his visit to Ladakh, where he is scheduled to inaugurate two power projects. Army Chief Gen Dalbir Singh Suhag who visited Siachen and interacted with the army jawans at Leh and on the glacier on Sunday, will receive Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his visit today. [caption id=“attachment_1660173” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  PTI[/caption] “The Army Chief visited the Siachen Glacier. He paid tribute to the brave soldiers who had laid down their lives in this sector by laying a floral wreath at the Siachen War Memorial,” a Srinagar-based defence spokesman said. In his address to the troops at the Siachen Base Camp, the Army Chief lauded the efforts put in by the brave soldiers of the Siachen Brigade. The Army Chief will visit forward posts of Eastern Ladakh and will review the Army’s defence preparedness in that sector. Meanwhile Prime Minister Modi is scheduled to conduct an inspection of the forward posts before addressing a gathering of the jawans and officers in Siachen. He is also scheduled to inaugurate two power projects in Leh and Kargil besides laying the foundation stone of a power transmission line linking the two Ladakh districts headquarters to the State capital of Srinagar. According to this report in NDTV, “The transmission line - a project announced by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in August 2003 – will connect Ladakh with the country’s northern grid and go a long way towards solving the power woes of Leh. The project, estimated to cost Rs. 300 crore, will now cost a whopping Rs. 1,700 crore.” The Indian army posts are located in Siachen at altitudes ranging from 17,000 feet to 23,000 feet along the Actual Ground Postioning Line (AGPL) with Pakistan. Pakistan has been seeking the withdrawal of Indian troops from there as a confidence-building measure but this has been opposed by the Army and the Defence Ministry which say the heights are of strategic importance. The Prime Minister was invited by the then Army Chief Gen Bikram Singh to visit the Siachen Glacier to boost the morale of the troops and show solidarity with them. With inputs from PTI