On a day when the Chinese Premier’s visit to Delhi was being seen as an attempt to improve ties after the recent Chinese incursion in eastern Ladakh, India seems to be in no mood to let its guard down. On Monday, defence minister A.K. Antony presided over a meeting at the ministry of defence (MoD) to review the progress of construction of border roads by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), including those near the Sino-Indian border. Mr Antony had just recently made it clear that India was fully entitled to build border infrastructure on its territory near the border just as China has the right to build its own border infrastructure on its territory across the border.
The BRO has planned to construct 73 vital roads for development on Indian territory the Sino-Indian border. Of these, at least 16 have been completed, 38 are planned to be completed by the end of 2013 while the remaining 19 roads are scheduled to be completed by 2016. While there was no official word on what transpired at Monday’s meeting, the minister had earlier expressed his concern over the inadequate pace of progress on building border infrastructure.
Defence sources say the Chinese creation of border infrastructure has been far superior and quicker when compared to India. The Indian government had admitted “China has constructed roads from all (its) highways, logistic centres and major defence installations to all the passes and military on the LAC/IB.”