Fourty four roads to come up along the Indo-China border
The government of India is constructing 44 strategic roads along the border with China at a cost of nearly Rs 21,000 crore and over 2100 km of axial and lateral roads in Punjab and Rajasthan, abutting Pakistan.
According to an annual report (2018-19) of 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.
The nearly 4000-km-long Line of Actual Control between India and China touches areas from Jammu & Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh. The report comes at a time China is giving a priority to projects along its India borders. In 2017, Indian and Chinese troops engaged in a face-off at the Doklam tri-junction after the neighbouring country had begun building road in the area. The standoff ended on August 28 following a mutual agreement under which China stopped the construction of the road and India withdrew its troops.
The lateral and axial roads measuring over 2,100 kilometers will be built with a cost of around Rs 5,400 crore in Rajasthan and Punjab along the Indo-Pakistan border.
A total of 945 km of lateral roads and 533 km of axial roads lie in Rajasthan (tentative cost Rs 3,700 crores) and 482 km of lateral roads and 219 km of axial roads in Punjab (tentative cost Rs 1,750 crores). The road projects will secure the vast and remote border areas of Rajasthan and Punjab.