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INDIA’S NEW APPROACH
- The government will construct 44 strategic roads along the border with China and over 2100 km of axial and lateral roads in Punjab and Rajasthan, abutting Pakistan, a CPWD document shows. According to an annual report (2018-19) prepared, and released earlier this month by the Central Public Works Department, the agency has been asked to construct 44 “strategically important” roads along the India-China border to ensure quick mobilisation of troops in case of a conflict.
DETAILS
- The nearly 4000-km-long Line of Actual Control between India and China touches areas from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh The report stated that these 44 strategically road along the IndiaChina border will be constructed at a cost of nearly Rs 21,000 crore.
- “The CPWD has been entrusted with construction of 44 strategically important roads along the Indo-China Border spanning 5 states of J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh,” the report stated.
INDIA PAKISTAN ROADS
- The CPWD report also stated that lateral and axial roads measuring over 2,100 kilometres will be built with a cost of around Rs 5,400 crore in Rajasthan and Punjab along the Indo-Pakistan border. The DPRs for this project are under preparation in CPWD, which is a major construction agency of the central government. India’s border with Pakistan runs through four states, Jammu and Kashmir (1,225 km, which includes 740 km of Line of Control), Rajasthan (1,037 km), Punjab (553 km) and Gujarat (508 km).
CHINA’S ESCALATION NEAR THE BORDER
- The recent official revelation that China began deploying 50 km range laser-guided and satellite guided PLC-181 vehicle mounted howitzers in Tibet opposite to Sikkim and other areas There are other weapon systems to be deployed to Tibet according to the Chinese press. These include, plans to deploy the 32 tonne, 105 millimetre gun T-15 light tank that can be easily transported; a new LW-30 laser defense weapon system that can detect and strike low, slow and small targets including unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV).
CHINA’S ESCALATION NEAR THE BORDER
- More alarming was the January 10, 2019, China Central TV report that DF-26 manoeuvrable re-entry missile system has been deployed to the northwest for training purposes. Its 4,000 km range is meant for attacking United States aircraft carriers in the Taiwan Straits or South China Sea but hypothetically applicable to Indian aircraft carriers as well.
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