By Rs Jassal
1. It is a matter of great pride and privilege for any Unit to observe and celebrate its Raising day – especially so when it is a Silver Jubilee. 30th Battalion The Assam Rifles raised on 02 Apr 1987 at Charduar (Assam) have served illustriously in the valley of Manipur with three full eventful tenures during 1997-2005, 2009-2011 and as on today at Mantripukhri. Prior to re-induction to Manipur the Unit occupied posts at the snow capped high altitude mountains of North Sikkim before moving to the Tribal belt of Nagaland. To retrospect the Unit activities, it has created appreciable milestones across the varied segments of the North East appropriately matching to its fascinating logo “The Rising Sun Battalion”, so enviously earned because of its Long Range Patrols at high altitudes, Quick Reaction Teams in counter-insurgency role or reaching to the people in aid during floods or firefighting on occurrence.
2. The Unit continued to evolve itself from 1987 in creating peace environments in the North-Eastern areas of India in the face of growing threat to peaceful and smooth functioning of civil administration created by the militant activities. For the maintenance of law and order, countering insurgency and reassuring the people of the North East region the Unit equitted itself very well to the expectations of higher authorities under changed Operational Doctrines. The Unit reached the people through Military Civic Action programmes and acquired a healthy relationship with the people. The Unit also conducted surgical operations and rooted out the direct threat of UGs to the functioning of the Government and assisted in smooth living of the people.
3. To reminisce a great event it was this Unit who recovered the remnants of Mitchell Bomber which had crashed while Gen Orde Wingate onboard fatal flight back from Chindit bases in Burma on 24 March 1944 during the Second World War. The relentless search with three days of foot slogging resulted in the recovery of the aircraft’s engine and gun from the crash site near Thilon Village, Tamenglong on 30 May 1989. It is presently adorning the ramparts of the Office Complex of Director General Assam Rifles, Shillong, at Happy Valley.
4. During its tenure in Kangla the Unit was put to face various odds against the natural disaster caused by a devastating flood which filled the Imphal valley and Kangla too with high levels of water to its Northern gates in Aug 1990 to the extent that the DIG Bungalow holding DIG and his family had to be evacuated through a boat to a safer place. The Unit’s evacuation team remained engaged day and night in plugging the breaches on Imphal River and extended helping hand to the denizens of Imphal Valley during the flood. Numerous rescue operations were carried out followed by the rehabilitation of those affected by it. This act of selflessness beyond the call of duty was highly applauded by the media and the locals.
5. Due to its continuous, dedication, sincere and intense operations against the UGs, Unit Citation by GOC-in-C, Eastern Command was bestowed on the Unit on 15 Jan 1997. The Unit also did exceptionally well in suppressing the insurgency and assisting the Election Commission and the State Government Officials in conducting free and fair Assembly Elections of 2012 in Manipur.
6. The Unit also performed tough tasks in Border Guarding role, carried out numerous rescue missions and braved the extreme hostile climatic conditions faced by the troops on duty. On de-induction to Mokokchung (Nagaland) the Unit adapted rapidly to the evolving scenario of Naga Insurgency especially the Naga UGs (IM&K) at conflict. During this tenure, the Unit ensured the effective enforcement of Ceasefire ground rules with the highly pro-active and sensitive NSCN (IM & K) and smooth cum incident free conduct of Assembly Elections in Nagaland.
7. The Unit then made its second coming at Thinghat (Churachandpur), Manipur. During this tenure the Unit steer geared various initiatives by employing a number of developmental activities in the region as they have worked to bring law and order to manageable control in far flung areas. The Unit destroyed scores of acres of illegal poppy cultivation and urged the State to provide alternative source of income to the locals as well as illegal extraction of timber was also blocked. Under the Humanitarian activities, provisioning of medical assistance and infrastructure for basic education to reconstruct dilapidated classrooms were undertaken.
8. With presently location at Mantripukhri, the Unit has carved a niche for itself by implementing various developmental projects in the Imphal Valley region including confidence arousing educational tours to heart land cities of India and achieved the goodwill of the locals by carrying out numerous recruitment drives and instilled among the locals a sense of comfort and peace.
9. The Rising Sun Battalion thus celebrated its Silver Jubilee from 01 Apr to 03 Apr 2012 in a style pompous though humble at Mantripukhri, with events spanned over for four days consisting of various events such as Meena Bazaar, Special Family Welfare Meet, Barakhana, Flag Hoisting, Special Sainik Sammelan and Dinner with the Assam Rifles fraternity, the Government dignitaries and prominent civilians from various walks of life on invitation. HQ IGAR (South) is in the static location at Mantripukhri, where as the Assam Rifles units keep on changing guard at fixed tenures. In this way each Battalion keeps on adding memorable milestones and today unit area is having most lovely fascinating Golf Course, Railway Reservation Counter, SBI Banking facilities with ATM. Above all beautiful unit garden capacitated to grow fruits like Bananas, Guava, Lemons etc and each barrack given responsibility to grow seasonal vegetables. While inheriting good assets there may be new chal
lenges too for the new incumbent Col Vedpal Yadav, SM as to work for add ones as it is said sky is the limit for any success story and the regimental story being always a continuous one. Col Atul Kumar having rendered three years high proactive services as CO bid adieu Apr 19.
10. Throughout its journey of 25 glorious years wherever the Unit went, it always left behind a legacy of dedication, bravery and courage and in turn picked up accolades in the form of honours and awards and goodwill of people with whom they are serving.
