Army conducts Airborne exercise in sensitive Siliguri Corridor near China

Around 600 paratroopers of the Indian Army's Airborne Rapid Response teams carried out large scale drops near the Siliguri Corridor on March 24 and March 25 in an Airborne Exercise, after being airlifted from various airbases, the force said.

The exercise involved advanced free-fall techniques; insertion, surveillance and targeting practice and seizing of key objectives by going behind enemy lines.

Siliguri Corridor is the strategically important region near the country's northern border with China that also borders Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

The Corridor is considered very important from the military perspective and connects the northeastern region with the rest of India.

The 60 km long and 22 km wide Siliguri Corridor in West Bengal, is also known as the 'Chicken's Neck'.

Wedged between Bangladesh to the south and the west and China to the north, the Siliguri Corridor links India to neighbouring Nepal, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

As China continuing road and airstrip construction activities on its side of the border, the threat to the Siliguri Corridor is a constant one, as the infrastructure could allow China to mobilise rapidly in the region.

India too have enhanced deployment in the region and is also developing military infrastructure.