The Ministry of Railways has decided, on 3 June, to disband five Railway Engineers Territorial Army Regiments located at Jhansi, Kota, Adra, Chandigarh and Secunderabad. However, Railway Engineer Regiment (Territorial Army) located at Jamalpur will be retained for operational role along the route New Jalpaiguri-Siliguri-Newmal-Alipurduar-Rangiya.

The Railway Territorial Army (TA) units were raised as an auxiliary force in 1949 under the Territorial Army Act, 1948, for maintaining rail communications in forward areas during active hostilities and maintenance of essential rail transportation in the country in peace time whenever required. These are manned primarily by the serving railway personnel with the help of small nucleus of permanent staff drawn from regular Army.

The ministry said that a committee of three executive directors/principal executive director was constituted to review the existing functional establishment of six Railway Engineers Territorial Army Regiments. The committee re-assessed the operational requirements of Railway TA Regiments.

“On the basis of the recommendations of the above committee and with the concurrence of the Ministry of Defence and Directorate General of Territorial Army, Ministry of Railways has decided disbandment of five Railway Engineers Territorial Army Regiments located at Jhansi, Kota, Adra, Chandigarh and Secunderabad. Retention of one Railway Engineer Regiment (TA) located at Jamalpur for the operational role along the route New Jalpaiguri-Siliguri-Newmal-Alipurduar-Rangiya (361 kms) to cover the critical rail link through Siliguri corridor and further up to Rangiya as proposed by Ministry of Defence,” the statement said.

The disbandment process is to be completed by Directorate General Territorial Army within a duration of nine months from the date of issue of Ministry of Railways letter dated June 3, 2022, and the modalities for the same are to be worked out by DGTA in consultation with Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Defence.

History

The Territorial Army was raised in 1920 through Indian Territorial Act of 1920 and comprised of two wings namely – ‘The Auxiliary Force’ for Europeans & Anglo-Indians, and ‘The Indian Territorial Force’ for Indian Volunteers. After Independence the Territorial Army Act was passed in 1948 and the first Indian Governor General Shri C Rajagopalachari formally inaugurated the Territorial Army on 9 October 1949.

The Territorial Army initially had various types of units such as Armed Regt (TA), Infantry Battalion (TA), Air Defence (TA),Med Regt (TA), Engineers Field Park Coy (TA), Signal Regiment (TA), EME Workshop (TA), Coast Battery (TA), ASC GT Coy (TA), ASC Compo Platoon (TA), AMC Field Ambulance (TA). By 1972 these units have either been disbanded or converted to Regular Army except Infantry Battalion (TA).

The Territorial Army is a part of Regular Army and its present role is to relieve the Regular Army from static duties and assist Civil Administration in dealing with natural calamities and maintenance of essential services in situations where life of the communities is affected or the security of the Country is threatened and to provide units for Regular Army as and when required.

Presently the Territorial Army has a strength of approx fifty thousand personnel comprising of Departmental TA units such as Railway, IOC, ONGC, and Non Departmental TA units of Infantry Battalion (TA) including Home & Hearth Battalions, Ecological Battalion (TA) affiliated to various Infantry Regiments and Engineer Regiment (TA) for maintenance of Line of Control Fencing. Now, one Composite Eco Task Force for National Mission for Clean Ganga is under raising at Allahabad.

The TA units were actively involved in 1962, 1965 and 1971 operations. The“Terriers” have also taken part in Op Pawan in Sri Lanka, Op Rakshak in Punjaband J&K, Op Rhino and Op Bajrang in the North East in a most active manner. Departmental units came to the aid of the Civil Authorities during Industrial unrest and natural calamities, most famous being the earthquake in Latur (Maharashtra), Uttarkashi in Garhwal Himalaya and the Supper Cyclone in Odisha. The Ecological units have arrested man made environmental degradation by planting approx six crore and 65 lakh trees over 66,000 Hectares of land in Mussoorie Hills & Pithoragarh (UK), Shimla (HP), Jaisalmer (Rajasthan) Bhatti Mines (Delhi), Charduar, Kokrajhar (Assam) and Samba (J&K).

Many Industrialists, politicians and eminent personalities have been members of the TA. The force also has had the honour of appointing 11 officers over the years as Hony ADC to the President of India.

Departmental Units

Oil Sector

801 Engineer Regiment Refineries & Pipelines (TA) – Agra

811 Engineer Regiment ONGC (TA) – Baroda

414 ASC Battalion Marketing (TA) – Kamptee

Indian Railways

969 Railway Engineers Regiment (TA) – Jamalpur

970 Railway Engineers Regiment (TA) – Jhansi (to be disbanded)

1031 Railway Engineers Regiment (TA) – Kota (to be disbanded)

1032 Railway Engineers Regiment (TA) – Adra (to be disbanded)

1101 Railway Engineers Regiment (TA) – Chandigarh (to be disbanded)

1105 Railway Engineers Regiment (TA) – Secunderabad (to be disbanded)

General Hospitals

General Hospital (TA) (500 Beds) – Kolkata

General Hospital (TA) (400 Beds) – Allahabad

General Hospital (TA) (300 Beds) – Jaipur

General Hospital (TA) (300 Beds) – Patiala

General Hospital (TA) (300 Beds) – Guwahati

General Hospital (TA) (300 Beds) – Ahmadabad

General Hospital (TA) (400 Beds) – Rohtak

Others

777 Signal Regiment Telecom (TA) – Mhow

Ecological Task Forces (ETF)

127 Infantry Battalion (TA) Garhwal Rifles Eco – Dehradun, Uttarakhand

128 Infantry Battalion (TA) Rajputana Rifles Eco – Jaisalmer, Rajasthan

129 Infantry Battalion (TA) JAK LI Eco – Samba, Jammu and Kashmir

130 Infantry Battalion (TA) Kumaon Eco – Pithoragarh, Uttarakhand

132 Infantry Battalion (TA) Rajput Eco – New Delhi (Union Territory)

133 Infantry Battalion (TA) Dogra Eco – Shimla, Himachal Pradesh

134 Infantry Battalion (TA) Assam Eco – Rangiya, Assam

135 Infantry Battalion (TA) Assam Eco – Sonitpur, Assam

136 Infantry Battalion (TA) Mahar Eco – Aurangabad, Maharashtra

137 Composite Eco-Task Force Battalion (TA) 39 Gorkha Regiment – Allahabad

Non-departmental Units

The decision to raise Home and Hearth (H&H) units was taken in 2003-2004, based on the “sons of soil” model. The 162 Infantry Battalion TA JAK LI (H&H) is exclusively for Ikhwans. The H&H personnel are completely recruited from Jammu and Kashmir only. The three Engineer Regiments were raised for maintenance of the Line of Control.

Infantry Battalions

101 Infantry Battalion (TA) Maratha Light Infantry – Pune, Maharashtra

102 Infantry Battalion (TA) Punjab Regiment – Kalka, Haryana

103 Infantry Battalion (TA) Sikh Light Infantry – Ludhiana, Punjab

105 Infantry Battalion (TA) Rajputana Rifles – Delhi Cantonment, New Delhi

106 Infantry Battalion (TA) Para – Bengaluru, Karnataka

107 Infantry Battalion (TA) 11 Gorkha Rifles – Darjeeling, West Bengal

108 Infantry Battalion (TA) Mahar – Dehradun, Uttarakhand

109 Infantry Battalion (TA) Maratha Light Infantry – Kolhapur, Maharashtra

110 Infantry Battalion (TA) Madras – Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu

111 Infantry Battalion (TA) Kumaon – Allahabad, Uttar Pradesh

112 Infantry Battalion (TA) Dogra – Jalandhar, Punjab

113 Infantry Battalion (TA) Rajput – Kolkata

114 Infantry Battalion (TA) Jat – Fatehgarh

115 Infantry Battalion (TA) Mahar Regiment – Belgaum, Karnataka

116 Infantry Battalion (TA) Parachute Regiment – Devlali, Maharashtra

117 Infantry Battalion (TA) Guards – Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu

118 Infantry Battalion (TA) Grenadiers – Bhusawal, Maharashtra

119 Infantry Battalion (TA) Assam – Shillong, Meghalaya

120 Infantry Battalion (TA) Bihar – Bhubaneswar, Odisha

121 Infantry Battalion (TA) Garhwal Rifles – Kolkata, West Bengal

122 Infantry Battalion (TA) Madras Regiment – Kannur, Kerala

123 Infantry Battalion (TA) The Grenadiers – Jaipur, Rajasthan

124 Infantry Battalion (TA) Sikh – New Delhi

125 Infantry Battalion (TA) Guards – Secunderabad, Telangana

126 Infantry Battalion (TA) Jammu and Kashmir Rifles – Madhopur, Punjab

150 Infantry Battalion (TA) Punjab Regiment – New Delhi (Union Territory)

151 Infantry Battalion (TA) Jat Regiment – Muzaffarpur, Bihar

152 Infantry Battalion (TA) Sikh Regiment – Ludhiana, Punjab

153 Infantry Battalion (TA) Dogra Regiment – Meerut, Uttar Pradesh

154 Infantry Battalion (TA) Bihar Regiment – Brichgunj (Port Blair), Andaman and Nicobar Islands

155 Infantry Battalion (TA) Jammu and Kashmir Rifles – Sujanpur, HP

Infantry Battalion (Home and Hearth)

156 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Punjab Regiment – Rajouri, Jammu and Kashmir

157 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Sikh Regiment – BD Bari, Jammu and Kashmir

158 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Sikh Light Infantry – Janglot, Jammu and Kashmir

159 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Dogra Regiment – Thalela, Jammu and Kashmir

160 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Jammu and Kashmir Rifles – Kupwara, Jammu and Kashmir

161 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry – Baramulla, Jammu and Kashmir

162 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Jammu and Kashmir Light Infantry – Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir

163 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Sikh Light Infantry – Hyderbeigh, Jammu and Kashmir

164 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Naga Regiment – Zakhama, Nagaland

165 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Assam Regiment– Imphal, Manipur

166 Infantry Battalion (TA) (H&H) Assam Regiment– Tezpur, Assam

172 Infantry Battalion (TA) Madras Regiment – Campbell Bay, Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Engineer Regiments

173 Engineer Regiment (TA)

174 Engineer Regiment (TA) Bengal Engineer Group

175 Engineer Regiment (TA)

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However, Railway Engineer Regiment (Territorial Army) located at Jamalpur will be retained for operational role along the route New Jalpaiguri-Siliguri-Newmal-Alipurduar-Rangiya, it said.

The Railway Territorial Army (TA) units were raised as an auxiliary force in 1949 under the Territorial Army Act, 1948, for maintaining rail communications in forward areas during active hostilities and maintenance of essential rail transportation in the country in peace time whenever required. These are manned primarily by the serving railway personnel with the help of small nucleus of permanent staff drawn from regular Army.

The ministry said that a committee of three executive directors/principal executive director was constituted to review the existing functional establishment of six Railway Engineers Territorial Army Regiments.

The committee re-assessed the operational requirements of Railway TA Regiments.

“On the basis of the recommendations of the above committee and with the concurrence of the Ministry of Defence and Directorate General of Territorial Army, Ministry of Railways has decided disbandment of five Railway Engineers Territorial Army Regiments located at Jhansi, Kota, Adra, Chandigarh and Secunderabad. Retention of one Railway Engineer Regiment (TA) located at Jamalpur for the operational role along the route New Jalpaiguri-Siliguri-Newmal-Alipurduar-Rangiya (361 kms) to cover the critical rail link through Siliguri corridor and further up to Rangiya as proposed by Ministry of Defence,” the statement said.

The disbandment process is to be completed by Directorate General Territorial Army within a duration of nine months from the date of issue of Ministry of Railways letter dated June 3, 2022, and the modalities for the same are to be worked out by DGTA in consultation with Ministry of Railways and Ministry of Defence, it said.

The post Five Railway Territorial Army units to be disbanded appeared first on IMR.