New Delhi The government made it clear on Thursday that, the movements of army units on the night of January 16/ 17 was ” purely for training purposes” and aimed at refining drills and ensuring operational preparedness during adverse weath
er conditions, reports IANS. Defence Minister A K Antony also said there were no intelligence reports to the defence ministry on the troop movements.
” The movements were purely for training purposes aimed at refining the mobilisation drills and ensuring operational preparedness of the army despite adverse weather conditions,” Antony said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
A leading Delhi newspaper, in a page one report earlier this month, had claimed that centre was alarmed by the movement of units from the 50 Independent Para Brigade and 33 Armoured Division towards the national capital, leading to Defence Secretary Shashi Kant Sharma being called back from Malaysia.
However, Antony did admit in his reply that the two units did move from their bases. The para commando unit moved from Agra to the location of another unit in Gurgaon on January 17 and the armoured division unit moved from its location to Bahadurgarh on the night of January 16/ 17.
