Jawans rely on peeping Toms to keep track of intruders

By day or by night, the army’s job of tracking infiltrators in Jammu and Kashmir is made a lot easier by a long-range reconnaissance and observatory system (LORROS).

Thanks to the device, which can record militant movement within a radius of 13 km at night and a radius of 16 km during daytime, the army can peep into infiltrators’ hubs on the other side of the LoC.

The equipment has hi-resolution cameras fitted to the computer. These cameras, placed at vantage points which revolve 360 degrees, feed images to computers which give troopers a clear picture of movement on the LoC.

“The cameras move 180 degrees on the left and the right so that each and every spot is covered. The main aim of this equipment is to monitor the movement of infiltrators 24/7,” Naveen Ola, LORROS operator, said.

Apart from LORROS, there are other weapons in the surveillance system. These are the thermal imager (HHTI) and the passive night vision gogle/device (PNVG/D). “Thermal imagers map heat and temperature. They detail any object that has a temperature.

The HHTI is used to track movement on the LoC at night,” Major DK Bansal, company commander of 40 Rashtriya Rifles, said.

PNVG/D is a magnificent spotter which can see as far as 2km at night. “The device spots suspicious movement even in bad weather,” an expert said. The army has also installed ground sensors along the fence which immediately send a message to the control room if the fence is breached.