On 1 April 2015, a new battalion with about 700 soldiers was raised as 6th Battalion First Gorkha Rifles. This is the first Gorkha battalion to have come up in 50 years. The new battalion, the Sixth Battalion of the First Gorkha Rifles (6/1GR), christened "Kanchi Paltan", was raised at Sabathu in the Shivalik foothills near Shimla, that houses the 14 Gorkha Training Centre. It is the first Gorkha battalion comprising only locally domiciled Gurkhas. The ratio between Nepali Gurkhas and Indian-resident Gurkhas in the army's seven Gurkha regiments had typically been around 70:30. The announcement about the raising of this battalion was made by Lt Gen Ravi Thodge, then Master General of Ordnance and Colonel of the Regiment in October 2015 during the grand celebrations of Reunion-cum-Bicentenary of the Regiment.