Jammu: General Officer Commanding-in-Chief Northern Command Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi felicitated 33 pan India journalists of Defence Correspondents Course (DCC-2023) at Rezangla Hall, Udhampur on Saturday.
The course was organized by the Directorate of Public Relations, Ministry of Defence.
The DCC-2023 under Col Amitabh Sharma, PRO Jaipur had congregated at Vizag for the DCC which commenced on August 21, 2023. The participants of the course after undergoing the Navy module at Vizag and Air force module at various locations of Pune, reached Jammu on September 3, 2023 for Forward Area Tour from September 4 to 9, 2023.
“The Army leg commenced with a visit to Ratnuchak Military Station to get an insight of armoured equipment, training activities. obstacle crossing drills and Tank ride to get a feeling of battle zone. Thereafter they witnessed demonstration on artillery equipment by Tiger Division and also the familiarisation of Ditch-cum-Bund (DCB) close to International Border in Jammu district,” said PRO Defence Lt Col Suneel Bartwal.
The DCC journalists were given a chance to see the Anti Infiltration Obstacle System (AIOS) on the Line of Control (LoC) in Poonch-Rajouri sector. They were taken to forward areas along LoC in Jhangar and Bhimbar Gali, Rajouri and were briefed about demography of the region and LoC, he said.
During their visit to Pinewood School, Hamirpur, they interacted with the students and teachers. The course participants also visited the Corps Battle School, Sarol in order to witness the orientation training of soldiers and interacted with Indian army soldiers during the visit.
“The visit of journalists to such remote locations helped them in understanding the hardships and the challenges faced by the troops of the Indian army and people along the borders and in the hinterland in J&K,” Lt Col Bartwal said.
During the valedictory function, Col Amitabh Sharma, PRO Jaipur and Nodal Officer presented the Course report and the participants also shared their experiences.
“The Army Commander awarded the certificates to the participants and emphasized on positive and factual reporting on defence matters,” PRO Defence said.
In his address, the GOC-in-C emphasized the budding defence journalists on sensible reporting on operations and reports on brave-hearts. He also emphasized on the national security aspects while reporting stories on defence activities specially in LoC or hinterland. “The Army Commander also stressed upon the role of journalists in nation building. Speaking on the occasion, Lt Gen Dwivedi said that the aim of the course was to get journalists from all over the country to give an overview of the functioning of the three wings of the Armed Forces,” Lt Col Bartwal said.
Lt Gen Dwivedi interacted with participants and complimented PRO(Defence) Jammu; Information Warfare branch of Northern Command and White Knight Corps for their whole hearted support for forward area tour.
In the end, Capt (IN) CG Raju, PRO Vizag along with Col Amitabh Sharma, Manoj Roorkiwal, PRO Defence, New Delhi presented a memento to GOC-in-C on behalf of A Bharat Bhushan Babu, ADG (M&C), HQ DPR, MoD and Principal Spokesperson of Union Minister for Defence, Lt Col Bartwal said.