Women BSF mountaineers flagged off for expedition at Uttarakhand peak

New Delhi, Aug 5 (PTI) A 12-member all-women Border Security Force (BSF) mountaineering team was on Monday flagged off for scaling a 7,130 meter tall peak in Uttarakhand located near the India-Tibet border.

The squad, led by constable Saraswati Lama, is expected to summit the 'Mount Mukut East' peak in the North Garhwal Himalayas around the second week of September.

This is a first all-women central armed police forces (CAPF) mountaineering expedition to this peak, a BSF spokesperson said.

BSF additional director general (ADG) Anurag Garg flagged off the team from the headquarters of the border force located at Lodhi Road.

The BSF is part of the CAPFs like the CRPF, ITBP, CISF and SSB that function under the Union Home Ministry. It is primarily tasked to guard Indian borders with Pakistan on the west and Bangladesh on the east, apart from rendering a variety of duties in the internal security domain of the country.

BSF Inspector General (Training) Raja Babu Singh said the expedition carries the message of women empowerment, 'Swachh Bharat-Swachh Himalaya' and 'Hum Fit-Toh India Fit'. The mountaineers will bring along garbage from the peak and dispose off at Joshimath (Uttarakhand), he said.

Singh said two more such all-women expeditions are planned by the force this year, the first being a river rafting adventure journey from Gangotri in the North to Gangasagar in the eastern part of the country.

A coastal cycling tour from Dwarka in Gujarat to Sunderbans in West Bengal is also expected to be undertaken in October-November, the IG said. PTI NES SKY SKY