NEW DELHI: Indian Army has constructed a bigger Rezangla War Memorial in Chushul which will be inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh in the coming week, on the occasion of the 59th anniversary of the famous battle of Rezangla.
A source said, "Defence Minister will be inaugurating the Rezangla War Memorial on 18th November." He will be accompanied with the Chief of Defence Staff.
The new War Memorial is much bigger and will be on the tourist map of Ladakh. In addition to the names of the 114 of the 120 soldiers of the Charlie Company of the 13th Kumaon Battalion who lost their lives fighting but defeated many waves of the People's Liberation Army soldiers in 1962. In addition, this War Memorial will also have the names of the 20 soldiers who died in Galwan on 15 June 2020 in a clash with the Chinese soldiers.
Interestingly this will be the second War Memorial after the Galwan War Memorial in the Chushul Sector of Eastern Ladakh.
The Line of Actual Control in Eastern Ladakh is a site of tense standoff with the PLA since May 2020. Although there have been disengagement of troops from Galwan, Gogra and North and South Banks of the Pangong Lake, the stand off at Hotspring, Depsang and Demchok continues with close to 60,000 soldiers on each side of the LAC.
The tensions appear to continue longer as the Chinese did not agree to constructive suggestions of the Indian Army put forth during the 13th Corps Commanders Talks in October.
Indian Army is prepared for every eventuality said the Army Chief recently while expressing concerns about the increasec deployment and permanent construction on the Chinese Side. Army Chief Gen MM Naravane said, "Yes, it is a matter of concern that the largescale build-up has occurred and continues to be in place, and to sustain that kind of a build-up, there has been an equal amount of infrastructure development as on the Chinese end".