Mumbai: The Indian defence establishment has been gripped by alarm over the rapid pace of Chinese border infrastructure development. So much so that the Indian Army — deeply unhappy over the slow pace of construction of roads on the Indian side of the Sino-Indian border — has recently submitted a proposal to the ministry of defence (MoD) that the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) should be directly under the Army and should report to the Army vice-chief.
The BRO currently reports directly to the ministry of defence (MoD). The Army is hoping for rapid acceleration of the border infrastructure creation within the next few months itself.
The Army has reason to be upset. Of the 73 proposed strategic roads to be built on the Indian side near the Sino-Indian border, only 17 roads have been completed. Out of the 73 strategic roads, as many as 54 should have been completed by the end of 2013.
It’s no wonder then that with the formation of the new Government at the Centre, the Army has intensified efforts to speed up border infrastructure. Army chief Gen. Bikram Singh recently met transport minister Nitin Gadkari to discuss the status of crucial border road projects.
The Army has also been delighted by the fact that the Modi government has decided on a massive defence infrastructure boost in the eastern sector — considered India’s Achilles’ Heel — bordering China and had announced easing of norms for environmental clearances.
Under this new policy, the ministry of defence need not approach other Union ministries for environmental clearances for constructing border roads and strategically important projects within 100 km of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
A decision had also been taken during the term of the previous UPA government to construct 14 “strategic” railway lines, crucial for defence preparedness. Of these, nine railway lines are along the northern border and three in the eastern sector that borders China. These include three strategic railway lines in the eastern sector from Missamari (in Assam) to Tawang (Arunachal) and also two other railway lines in the Northeast to Along and Passighat in Arunachal.
In the past few years, India has been steadfastly building up defence infrastructure in the Ladakh area of J&K in the North and in Arunachal Pradesh to the East, including re-activation of advanced landing grounds (ALGs) to support air-operations such as the one at Daulat Beg Oldi in the Ladakh sector.
The Army has already begun raising its Mountain Strike Corps in the eastern sector that will for the first time give it offensive capabilities vis-a-vis China. Some of the strategic roads will be of immense operational help to the newly-founded Corps.
The LAC is the de-facto border between India and China in areas such as the Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) in the North and Arunachal Pradesh to the East, where both countries have different perceptions of the border. The other Indian border states where the International Border (IB) between the two countries stands are Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim. The total distance of the Sino-Indian border that includes both the LAC and the IB is about 4,000 km.
A few years ago, the MoD had told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence, “China has been building its infrastructure. They have the advantage of the topography also because they have the Tibetan plateau whereas from our side, the terrain and the geography are far more difficult. Therefore, these roads have been assigned the highest priority in the Government. But there were issues of land acquisition, there were issues of getting the forestry and wildlife clearance.”
