Sunday, February 13 2005 10:22 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Siachen Base Camp: Where in India would you find soldiers wearing the costliest attire? On Siachen, where they are outfitted in high-altitude gear costing nearly Rs 2 lakh to fend off the harsh weather.

Each soldier is clothed in layers of expensive and imported apparel on this lonesome battlefield at 17,000-20,000 feet above sea level, "Where god is remembered at every breath and step, and where temples, myths and legends regularly punctuate this brutal terrain," says Capt Ashwini Shrivastava, an officer at the outpost.

He says the cost is not a question, for the 2,000-strong soldiers continue to brave diffulties with cases of gangrene and frost-bite still common, 20 years after the first picket of the Army was established in Siachen Base Camp.

This was mainly due to "inferior quality" gloves or boots, he says.

Temperatures dip to an average minus 55 to 60 degrees Celsius. "Once, it even dipped to minus 80," he says. Shrivastava rattles off a long list of the of gear donned by the Siachen soldiers.

Taking an inventory, these include Austrian made Kofach boots costing Rs 7,233, Italian Asgo boots - Rs 6,990, Swiss socks - Rs 1,132, Italian gloves Outter - Rs 2,174, Swiss Richner jackets - Rs 18,067, Swiss Wlgore trousers - Rs 8,813 and fibre-pile plant - Rs 14,174.

Inner and outer wear come for another Rs 30,000, Shrivastava says. Other clothing includes an expensive European uniform of Austrian snow boots worth Rs 6,233, a Swiss jacket and trousers costing Rs 15,298 and Rs 6,689, Finnish shirts at Rs 3,410 a piece and special Canadian caps and wind-cheaters for Rs 762 and Rs 1,349.

The officer says, "These are only a few of the several layers of clothing one wears."

There is a long process of acclimatisation before the men begin "the long March anything between 10 to 24 days up the world's highest, coldest and most expensive to maintain battlefield," Shrivastava adds.

Each soldier is also equipped with a climbing ladder, ice wall for Rs 12,660 and mattress for Rs 20,000. They also carry oxygen gas cylinders worth Rs 70,000 a piece.

"Most of the equipment and gear is procured from abroad," says the officer.

The list continues. Swiss beds (sleeping bags) costing Rs 18,755 and the vast array of mountaineering equipment and associated gadgets carried by each of the soldiers here come for anything between Rs 100 and Rs 8,000 per item.