The Army has red-flagged a proposal by the Home Ministry to bring the Assam Rifles under its operational control, saying such a move will seriously jeopardise surveillance over the country’s sensitive border with China when it has been ramping up military infrastructure along the frontiers with India.

Top military sources said concerned over the proposal, the Army strongly took up the issue with the Defence Ministry last week, urging it to intervene in the matter, considering the possible national security implications if the operational control of the nearly 185-year-old Assam Rifles was handed over to the Home Ministry.

The Cabinet Committee on Security, headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is likely to examine the Home Ministry’s move to merge the Assam Rifles with the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and bring overall operational control under it.

“Shifting the operational control of the Assam Rifles from the Army to the Home Ministry will severely jeopardise the surveillance along the Line of Actual Control with China,” a top military official said. Sources said the Army’s views on the matter had been conveyed to the top defence and security brass.

The Home Ministry has already prepared a draft note to be presented at the CCS seeking total control of Assam Rifles. The biggest concern for the Army is that this could impact the Army’s capability to effectively guard the sensitive border with China.