Leh, Dec 27: Eastern Army Commander Lt General Rana Pratap Kalita on Wednesday said within a couple of years, India will be able to match China in terms of infrastructure development along the borders between the two countries.
He said the Chinese have an advantage in some areas because they started infrastructure development in these places early.
“In the last five to 10 years, a lot of focus has been on infrastructure development and I am sure in another couple of years, we will be able to match the capability of the PLA (People’s Liberation Army of China),” General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Army Command, Lt General R P Kalita said in a media interaction at Fort William in Kolkata.
His comments come days after External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said that the country was making its border infrastructure robust with the seriousness it deserves to strengthen national security, with the construction of roads, bridges and tunnels along the China border at a much faster pace compared to what was achieved in previous decades.
Asserting that there is still a lot of work to do, Kalita, who is set to retire on December 31, said given the rate at which India is carrying out infrastructure development, it can be achieved by that time frame.
As of now, the PLA has a certain amount of advantage over India as far as infrastructure in certain specific areas are concerned, he added. “Otherwise, we have been able to match,” he said.
To a question about priority areas for infrastructure development in border areas for dual civil-military use, Kalita said road connectivity up to the border posts, data communication and mobile connectivity, helipads and airports in the remote areas top the list.
“Because of large distances involved and these areas being prone to landslides, snowslides and avalanches, we need to depend on helipads and ALGs (advanced landing grounds) to a large measure,” he said.
He also highlighted the need for accommodation for people to stay and operate from these areas.
Kalita said plans are afoot to build alternative road connectivity in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh.
Strategically important north Sikkim was cut off after flash floods in Teesta river on October 4 washed away parts of the arterial national highway 10 at Singtam in the small Himalayan state, which shares its borders with China, Nepal and Bhutan.
Kalita said that there exists some alternative routes but these are not well developed.
He said infrastructure development will not only help the armed forces, but will also be beneficial to the local populace in bettering their lives as well as increasing livelihood opportunities through increase in tourism activities.
Last week, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar had said that India was making its border infrastructure robust with the seriousness it deserves to strengthen national security.
“Take our border areas facing China as an illustration. And let the figures speak for themselves. Today, road construction is 2x, bridging and tunnelling 3x, and the border infrastructure budget 4x compared to what was the commitment and achievement of the last decades,” he had said.
“But it is not just the length and number of the roads, tunnels and bridges, but the consequences that they have for our operational capabilities. In the last decade, we have seen all-weather connectivity to Ladakh and to Tawang, focus on access to critical passes along the LAC (line of actual control), and the construction, in fact, of the world’s highest motorable road,” he had said.
“Strenuous efforts have since been made, especially in the last decade, to correct the shortcomings of the previous decades. The overall development of our national strengths that we have seen since 2014 have clearly had positive repercussions in the security field,” the EAM had said.
