New Delhi: Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman will celebrate Diwali with troops and interact with their families in Andmans.

In her first visit to the country's only theatre command, where all manpower and assets of Navy, Army, IAF and Coast Guard are under one operational commander, Sitharaman will be in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Wednesday and Thursday.

"Apart from reviewing the operational role of the Andaman and Nicobar Command (ANC) and visiting the airbase at Car Nicobar, the minister will celebrate Diwali with troops and interact with their families," said an officer.

The ANC was established as a unified command in October 2001 as part of the defence reforms undertaken after the 1999 Kargil conflict, but has suffered from politico-bureaucratic neglect, turf wars among the services and fund crunches.

The 572-island A&N archipelago is strategically located, straddling as it does the major global trade route of Malacca Strait. A robust ANC, with requisite military force-levels and infrastructure, can effectively act as a pivot to counter China's strategic moves in the Indian Ocean Region (IOR) as well as ensure security of sea lanes converging towards the Malacca Strait.

The ANC is also important to provide security cover to India's 5.95 lakh sq km of Exclusive Economic Zone in the region.