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After the violent Galwan clash between Indian and Chinese forces at the Pangong Tso which lies in eastern Ladakh and western Tibet — China is ramping up its military infrastructure, including new bridges. While China is rushing to complete a bridge across the Pangong Tso, connecting the north and south banks, India is also building a black-topped road on its side on the north bank.
A critical look at the military infrastructure along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in 2020 pushes the Indian establishment to ramp up its infrastructure on a war footing.
What was needed is to build roads, tracks, bridges, military garrisons, habitats and shelters for troops in areas unoccupied earlier. The urgency was acute as the Indian army planned to position multiple divisions of more than 50000 troops along the LAC.
China broke the status quo, bringing its military towards the contested patrolling points at LAC which prompted India to recalibrate its strategy against Chinese aggression.
In response, among the high-priority projects, India is building a road towards Finger 4 on its side. At LAC, India has been commanding till Finger 4 which extended to Finger 8. In 2020, Chinese troops unilaterally broke the sanctity which led to the Galwan clashes.
The area that is broadly marked as the north bank of Pangong Tso stretches along 135 km in various dimensions. Pangong Lake, situated at a height of almost 4,350m, is the world’s highest saltwater lake with around 45 kilometers on the Indian side of the LAC.
While the construction is underway, the project is deemed as complex engineering over the treacherous mountain, capable of carrying military equipment. According to the official, the blacktopped road leading to Finger 4 will add the Indian army as an alternative for the Darbuk-Skyok-Daulat Beg Oldie Road through the Saser La.
The construction will link Sassoma along the Nubra river to Sasser La and Gapshan, further connecting the main 255-km long Durbuk-Shyok-DBO road along the LAC.
In a report by The Hindu, an official source was quoted as saying that the "construction of a black-topped road towards Finger 4 on our side is on and is expected to be completed by 2025".
"There is a major impetus on infrastructure, road networks, advanced landing grounds and so on," the source added. While speaking to the outlet on the condition of anonymity, the source said that the construction work is at an advanced stage on the alternate axis to the critical Darbuk-Skyok-Daulat Beg Oldie road through the Saser La.
Indian defence entity, the Border Road Organization (BRO) is leading such strategic infra build-up along the LAC. The BRO is working on connecting the last mile in the eastern sector such as the Sela, Nechipu, and Sela-Chhabrela tunnels among other strategic passes.
So far, the BRO has completed 19 infrastructure projects in 2021 and 26 in 2022 in Ladakh alone and expects to complete 54 projects this year, as per the official data.
Recent satellite images
In a report by ChathamHouse, which was published last month, it was mentioned that satellite images taken in the six months from October 2022 show a region increasingly in a state of flux. The report mentioned that an established Chinese presence can be seen in the area where once there were just a few People's Liberation Army (PLA).
The report added that in that particular region, China has built an extensive set of installations, establishing an ecosystem to support its deployments of PLA troops. The satellite images also showed the expansion of roads, outposts and modern weatherproof camps. They have the facility of parking areas, solar panels and even helipads.
Last month, India's Border Roads Organisation (BRO) claimed that its personnel restored connectivity along the damaged Ditte Dime-Migging Road in the Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh within a record 72 hours.
Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) commanding officer O Taki said that despite heavy rain, the BRO personnel completed road diversion and opened the road for all types of traffic on June 23.
Overall, India has responded well to the Chinese infrastructure work with several crucial projects as the report mentioned that the nation's Northern Command has deployed blocking forces that match the Chinese activity and will prevent any further incursion.
Notably, the ChathamHouse report mentioned that the Indian Army has also occupied the peaks of several mountains resulting in Chinese withdrawals from sensitive locations, most of them around Pangong Tso.
India and China increase infrastructure near Pangong Tso lake: Report
Ties between India and China worsened since the 2020 Galwan clashes when in the month of May, troops of both nations engaged in aggressive face-offs resulting in the deaths of soldiers on both sides. Diplomatic talks keep happening from time to time to pacify the situation but tension...
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