Essential Supplies: No much effect of rail blockade, Army says it has stocked up for winters

At a checkpoint along a highway leading to Ladakh. Reuters file

The ongoing farmers' agitation and the continued suspension of train services to Punjab has not had any adverse effect on the Army's exercise of stocking up the essential items ahead of winter at its stations in Ladakh and Jammu & Kashmir.

Military sources said winter stocking of supplies for personnel of the Army and Central Armed Police Forces deployed in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh was completed by the end of October. Any further replenishment will be flown in once the passes close in J&K and Himachal Pradesh, the sources said.

The suspension of train services following the farmer protests, which gained momentum after new farm laws were enacted by the Centre, had prompted Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh to warn that it would not only hit the state's farmers and industry and people of neighbouring states, but also the supply of essentials to soldiers bracing for the winter in Ladakh and the Valley.

A senior Army officer said adequate reserves are in place. Moreover, movement of special military trains for exercises and field firing, the officer said, has not been taking place due to Covid…