Rajnath honours four-legged heroes of ITBP

Greater Noida: Home Minister Rajnath Singh today honoured two four-legged heroes a horse and a dog – of the border-guarding force ITBP for rendering exceptional services.

Horse ‘Black Beauty’ from the force’s basic training centre near Chandigarh and canine ‘Machhli’ from the 29th battalion deployed in Chhattisgarh were conferred with ‘Best Horse’ and the ‘Best Canine’ medals.

While the horse ferries rations for troops on border, the dog helps detect explosives in Naxal-hit areas.

Singh, officiating as the chief guest at the 56th Raising Day celebrations of the force at its camp here, got down from the dais to decorate the ‘special soldiers’ and put medals around their necks.

The nine-year-old horse has been with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police since birth and is part of the animal transport unit of the force which is considered as the lifeline for the high-altitude posts.

The seven-year-old Belgian shepherd dog conducts special sniffing operations as she assists patrol teams detect explosives in naxal-hit areas of Chhattisgarh.

Recently, ‘Machhli’ had found five kg of explosives and saved the lives of many soldiers in Chhattisgarh’s Rajnandangaon village, a senior ITBP officer said.

‘Black Beauty’ had won a silver medal at the national riding games recently.