Army chief's visit to Jaisalmer called off

The visit of Army chief Bipin Rawat to Jaisalmer to inaugurate the Army International Scout Masters Competition here was called off on Monday, defence sources said.

Rawat was scheduled to inaugurate the event on Monday evening. It would now be inaugurated by Chief of Staff of Southern Army Command Lt Gen DS Ahuja and the deputy defence minister of Russia at Jaisalmer military station, the sources said.

The army chief is not coming for the inaugural ceremony, they said.

The fifth edition of International Army Scout Masters Competition will be conducted at Jaisalmer Military Station under the aegis of the Southern Command.

The previous four editions of the competition were held at Russia. It is the first time that India is participating in the event.

The competition consists of five stages which will be conducted from August 6 to 14.

Army Scout Master Teams from Armenia, Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Russia, Sudan, Uzbekistan and India are participating in the event.

In the competition, navigation skills, endurance, marksmanship and team spirit will be evaluated by a panel of international judges, arbitrators and referees over a period of nine days.