Border Infrastructure Development & Updates
- Thread starter Ankit Kumar
- Start date
India responds to Chinese buildup, roads, mega tunnels coming up in Ladakh
The Indian Army has built infrastructure for housing 450 tanks and over 22,000 troops in Eastern Ladakh sector opposite China, defence sources said. The move is aimed at countering China's military infrastructure buildup in the region.To counter China's aggressive movements in the Pangong Tso lake, which is both in India and China, the Indian Army’s Corps of Engineer has inducted new landing crafts in both eastern Ladakh which has given a huge impetus to the patrolling capabilities and induction of men and equipment, sources said. The crafts can carry 35 troops or one keeper with 12 men.
"Habitat and technical storage to include assets for 22,000 troops and approximately 450 A vehicles and guns have been constructed in the last two years. Focus has now shifted to undertaking the construction of permanent defences and infrastructure to improve defence preparedness in the current working season, apart from the completion of ongoing projects," defence sources said.
Speaking about the permanent defences being built along the borders, the Indian Army’s Engineer in Chief, Lt Gen Harpal Singh, said: "3D-printed permanent defences have been constructed for the first time by the Indian Army’s Corps of Engineers in the desert sector. These defences were trial tested against a range of weapons from small arms to the main gun of the T90 tank."
He added that such defences are able to withstand blasts, can be erected within 36–48 hours, and can be relocated from one place to another.
"With this, trials for similar permanent defences have also been carried out in eastern Ladakh and found to be useful," he said.
Highlighting the infrastructure development being done by the Border Roads Organization along the China border, defence sources said that there are currently nine tunnels, which include the "2.535 km long Sela tunnel, which will be the highest bi-lane tunnel in the world once completed. 11 more tunnels are also under planning."
India responds to Chinese buildup, roads, mega tunnels coming up in Ladakh
Amid Chinese buildup in eastern Ladakh region, the Indian Army has built infrastructure for housing 450 tanks and over 22,000 troops to counter China.
Modi govt moves with Arunachal Frontier Highway, among India’s ‘toughest’ projects yet, China in mind
New Delhi: After seven decades of dithering on establishing border connectivity in the Northeast, India has initiated a massive infrastructure building, the showpiece of which is the Arunachal Frontier Highway, one of the country’s biggest and toughest projects.While sources in the defence establishment and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) refused to get into specific timelines for the project, they said that this is a “strategic project which is being sped up”.
Work on the project has already started in certain sections with state-of-art equipment deployed to fast track the whole process, they added.
The project, which was objected to by China in the past, is a 2,000-km long road that follows the McMahon Line. The road will begin from Mago in Arunachal Pradesh, adjacent to Bhutan, and pass through Tawang, Upper Subansiri, Tuting, Mechuka, Upper Siang, Debang Valley, Desali, Chaglagam, Kibithu, Dong, before ending at Vijayanagar near the Myanmar border.
Covering the entire Line of Actual Control (LAC) adjacent to Arunachal Pradesh, this project will cost at least Rs 40,000 crore. Sources described it as “one of India’s biggest and toughest” road building projects.
With this project, Arunachal Pradesh will get three national highways — the Frontier Highway, the Trans-Arunachal Highway and the East-West Industrial Corridor Highway.
Six vertical and diagonal inter highway corridors totalling 2,178 km will be built to provide missing inter-connectivity between the three highways as well as to provide faster access to border areas.
The corridors include the 402 km-long Thelamara-Tawang-Nelia Highway, the 391 km-long Itakhola-Pakke-Kessang-Seppa-Parsi Parlo Highway, the 285 km-long Gogamukh-Taliha-Tato Highway, the 398 km-long Akajan-Jorging-Pango Highway, the 298 km-long Pasighat-Bishing Highway and the 404 km-long Kanubari-Longding Highway.
Sources said the Arunachal Frontier Highway will be a huge capability jump for the military since it will allow seamless and faster movement of both men and equipment to the border as and when needed for induction and de-induction.
The project was pushed by Law Minister Kiren Rijiju in 2014, when he was the Minister of State for Home and looking after border affairs. That same year, the Home Ministry set the ball rolling for the project by asking the MoRTH to prepare a detailed project report.
China had raised objections to the project in 2014 itself after it came across reports that the proposal got preliminary nod from the Prime Minister’s Office. “Before the border problem is solved, we hope the Indian side will not take any action that could further complicate the relevant issue, so as to preserve the current situation of peace and stability in the border area,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei had said.
Sources said the project is being implemented by multiple agencies in close coordination with each including the Border Roads Organisation, the MoRTH and other agencies.
Faced with an assertive China, India has been carrying out a massive infrastructure push in the Northeast with a major focus on Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim, fast tracking work on a number of bridges that can transport heavy equipment to tunnels, highways and feeder roads right up to the LAC.
A large number of specialised and state-of-art road and tunneling equipment were inducted with efforts being made to match the speed at which the Chinese are building infrastructure on their side, sources said.
“The problem at our end is that terrain is tougher with several places needing tunneling unlike the Chinese who have a flatter terrain on their side of the LAC. However, we now have the same equipment that the Chinese have,” one of the sources said.
Of the total highway projects worth Rs 1.6 lakh crore announced by the Centre for the Northeast earlier this month, Arunachal Pradesh had got the lion’s share of works amounting to Rs 44,000 crore.
Talking about the proposed highway, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu had Monday said, “1962 was history and will never be repeated ever. In 1962, the scenario was very different. Infrastructure in the region was very poor. Despite that the Indian Army fought bravely and sacrificed thousands of lives to protect the motherland. But today, we are not what we were in 1962.”
Meanwhile, asked about the development of infrastructure in Sikkim post 2017 Doklam standoff, sources refused to get into details but informed that unlike earlier, Indian troops now have three paved access roads directly to the area.
Major capability jump for military
Sources said that the proposed highway along with other ongoing projects will provide a huge boost to the Army’s capability to move from one valley to another.
Incidentally, almost all military exercise in the Northeast focuses on inter-valley movement of troops and equipment.
The armed forces will get their first major boost when the 2.535 km-long Sela tunnel — the world’s longest bi-lane tunnel at an altitude above 13,000 ft once completed — is inaugurated in January next year, providing all-weather connectivity to Tawang.
At present, the Army and the civilians use the Balipara-Chariduar Road (Assam) to reach Arunachal’s Tawang since the Sela pass is shut down in winters.
This strategic tunnel along with Nechiphu Tunnel on the 317 km-long Balipara-Charduar-Tawang (BCT) road that leads to West Kameng and Tawang districts of Arunachal Pradesh will ensure that both defence and private vehicles have all-year mobility.
As reported earlier, the Sela Tunnel project, which has main and escape tunnels that are 1,555 m-long each, besides a shorter tunnel of 980 m and about 1.2 km of road, will ensure that the Chinese are not able to monitor traffic movement in the area. The Sela Pass is currently visible to the Chinese.
The tunnels are designed in such a way that all army equipment, including tanks and Vajra howitzers, can pass through them, away from the prying eyes of the Chinese as well as cutting down travel time with access throughout the year.
Modi govt moves with Arunachal Frontier Highway, among India’s 'toughest' projects yet, China in mind
The 2,000 km-long highway will be of strategic importance to military. Same equipment used on other side of LAC being deployed to carry out work on tough terrain, say officials.
theprint.in
Arunachal Frontier Highway | NH 913: Eye on China, Indian govt plans a 1,700-km 'frontier highway' near the border | India News - Times of India
India News: The government, in the next five years, will build a new highway in Arunachal Pradesh that will run close to the India-Tibet-China-Myanmar border. At
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
Modi steps up Ladakh defence, clears Shinkun La tunnel
The new tunnel under 16,703 feet Shinkun La will allow all-weather connectivity to Ladakh from Himachal Pradesh via Manali-Darcha axis and allow faster deployment of Indian troops to tackle any flare up in Kargil-Siachen sector with Pakistan or with PLA in East Ladakh.
In a significant step that will steel defence of Ladakh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi today cleared a 4.1 kilometer tunnel under Shinkun La on Manali-Darcha-Padam-Nimu axis to allow all weather connectivity to the Union Territory and cater to continuous supply of troops and equipment in the worst case scenario with either of the two adversaries.
The Border Roads Organization had made a black top road on Darcha-Padam-Nimu axis in 2019 but the road could not be used in winter months due to heavy snow on 16703 feet high Shinkun La. The road is critical to the defence of Ladakh as it is sheltered from both Pakistani and Chinese long range artillery or missile firing unlike the exposed Srinagar-Drass-Kaksar-Kargil highway near LoC and the Manali-Upshi-Leh highway near the LAC respectively. It was the Darcha-Padam-Nimu route which was used by the Indian Army to send arms and ammunition supplies to East Ladakh after Chinese PLA belligerence on the LAC in May 2020.
The decision to clear the tunnel under Shinkun L:a makes strategic sense as to achieve all weather connectivity on Manali-Upshi-Leh highway, the government would have to construct some 38 kilometers of tunnels under Baralacha La, Lachulung La and Taglang La, all passes touching heights of over 16000 feet which remained snowed in for at least five months a year.
Although the Defence Ministry gave the proposal to build a tunnel under Shinkun La to the Ministry of Highways and Road Transport in 2017 itself, the department was in favour of a 13 kilometer tunnel under Shinkun La, which would link it with the existing Darcha-Upshi-Leh highway. Given the terrain and the inclement sub-arctic temperatures the proposal hung fire till it was handed over to BRO in 2020 after the Chinese transgressions.
Today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi cleared the tunnel and the approach roads on both sides at the Cabinet meeting. The total cost of the project will be ₹1681.51 crore and will be completed by December 2025. Since the BRO has already done road cutting and black topping of the approaches on both sides to Shinkun La, the government will now only have to complete the 4.1 km underground pass.
The step is very significant as Nimu in Ladakh is close to Kargil as well as Leh, the headquarters of the UT. This means that the Indian Army can do faster deployment of forces and equipment if a situation flares up in Kargil-Siachen sector or in East Ladakh sector all along the 1597 km LAC in the UT.
Modi steps up Ladakh defence, clears Shinkun La tunnel
The new tunnel under 16,703 feet Shinkun La will allow all-weather connectivity to Ladakh from Himachal Pradesh via Manali-Darcha axis and allow faster deployment of Indian troops to tackle any flare up in Kargil-Siachen sector with Pakistan or with PLA in East Ladakh.
India approves $3.9 billion hydropower project near China border
The government approved the estimated investment of 319 billion rupees ($3.9 billion) for the 2,880-megawatt Dibang project in Arunachal Pradesh, state-run hydropower producer NHPC Ltd. said Monday. The project is estimated to take nine years to build.
Government mulling proposal to build 37 more roads worth Rs 13,000 crore along India-China border
a cumulative length of 875 km along the India-China border . Nearly 70% of these roads under ICBR-III would be built in Arunachal Pradesh, as per the proposal.
India China Border News: Government mulling proposal to build 37 more roads worth Rs 13,000 crore along India-China LAC | India News - Times of India
India News: The government is considering a proposal to build 37 more roads with a cumulative length of 875 km along the India-China border. This Rs 13,000 crore
timesofindia.indiatimes.com
