India Lags Behind China in Border Infrastructure

NEW DELHI - June 26, 2015 - PRLog -- According to an item published in the latest issue of Indian Military Review India continues to lag far behind China in its plans to construct border military infrastructure for swifter mobility of troops and weapons.The parliamentary standing committee on defence expressed great "dismay" and called it a matter of great concern with regard to defence preparedness.

Giving details, the new issue of Indian Military Review, published from New Delhi Indian troops have to struggle through treacherous terrain on foot to reach their forward positions in many sectors, with no proper roads and lateral links as well as the complete lack of rail connectivity. In case of war, the Indian Army reinforcements cannot reach Tawang area in a day. While Chinese forces can reach the border within two or three hours, the convoys on the Indian side take more than a day to reach there.

Across the Nathu La pass in east Sikkim, the Chinese have constructed high-quality roads right till their military outposts along most stretches of the unresolved 4,057km line of actual control (LAC).

An aggressive China has already inched closer to the Indian border in Sikkim when it completed building a 258-km rail line between Lhasa and Shigatse (Xigaze). The Tibetan city of Shigatse is to the north of Sikkim.

But what seems to have worried New Delhi more is China beginning surveys for a new 435 km-long railway line from Lhasa to Nyingchi, a small town bordering Arunachal Pradesh.

Strategic Roads Delayed

India's much-touted plans to build the infrastructure all along the LAC continue to flounder. Only 19 of the 73 "strategic" all-weather roads (which add up to 3,812km) identified for construction along the LAC for better troop mobility almost a decade ago, for instance, have been fully completed till now.

This when all the 73 roads, with more east-west lateral links as well as better access routes to strategic peaks and valleys, were to be completed by 2012. The Border Roads Organization (BRO), which has completed only 19 roads (625km) of the 61 roads (3,410km) entrusted to it, continues to regularly miss deadlines.

Noting the BRO faced "an acute shortage" of manpower, vehicles and requisite machinery, the parliamentary committee said, "In order to compete with our neighbouring countries, especially China, BRO must have the latest, state-of-the-art equipment."

The MoD, on its part, says 16 of the strategic India-China border roads will be completed in 2015, with another 13 by 2016, nine by 2017, two by 2018, and the rest thereafter. But only time will tell if these revised deadlines are met.

Defence Ministry May Fund Railway Projects

Railway tracks will be laid up to Tezu and Tawang in Arunachal Pradesh and Leh in Jammu & Kashmir, thereby providing a leg up to mobility of troops and ammunition in the north-eastern state that borders China.

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar in April, revealed that the Railways would set up a station in Arunachal Pradesh near the India-China border, and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) would be signed between the two ministries to execute the project.

The defence ministry may fund four railway projects in the areas bordering India and China totalling a railway line of about 1,400 km that may cost up to Rs 1.4 lakh crore if a simple calculation of Rs 80 crore to Rs 100 crore per km of railway construction in hilly terrain is factored in.

Preliminary surveys have been already undertaken on four routes Murkongselek to Rupai (both in Assam) via Pasighat, Tezu and Parasuramkund in Arunachal Pradesh; Misamari (Assam) to Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh); North Lakhimpur to Silapathar (both Assam) via the t own of Along in Arunachal Pradesh; and Bilaspur (Himachal Pradesh) to Leh via Manali.

Three out of four proposed rail projects, which are likely to be funded by the ministry of defence, will be rolled out in the strategically located Arunachal Pradesh.

2018 Deadline

The defence ministry has set itself a deadline of 2018 to complete infrastructure projects in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Refurbishing six Advanced Landing Grounds (ALGs) for military aircraft, building strategic railway lines, tunnels, and arterial roads leading up to the LAC are among the projects the government plans to finish before its term ends in 2019.

The Chinese infrastructure is right up to the LAC, whereas we are at places 50-100 km away from the LAC. This is now being addressed. “By 2018 – a year here or there – we plan to put the infrastructure in Arunachal Pradesh and the Northeast in place,” says Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh.

”The Border Roads Organisation has been brought solely under the Defence Ministry and has been given strict deadlines. The DG BRO will be monitoring the progress of these projects every three months and submitting the reports to me. I will be personally monitoring the progress by the year-end,” Singh said.

While the government recently slashed the budget for the mountain strike corps being raised in the Northeast, Singh said the commitment to raising the unit remained unaffected. “It was decided that the Northeastern borders will be guarded by sons of the soil and I am happy to say that two battalions of Sikkim Scouts have already been raised and Arunachal Scouts are being made ready. Initially there was a challenge raising the first battalion of Sikkim Scouts. But now we have raised even the second,” he said.

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