E-Paper
Himachal Pradesh CM takes stock of situation along China border, villages not to be vacated for now
State shares 260-km border with China in Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti districts
Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh government does not plan to get the six villages within 10 km of the border with China evacuated for now but it has stepped up vigil in the area after the recent faceoff between Indian and Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh that claimed the lives of 20 soldiers.
Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur reviewed the situation in the state’s regions along the China border in tribal Lahaul and Spiti and Kinnaur districts. Thakur, who also holds the state home portfolio, met Himachal director general of police Sanjay Kundu and the Indo Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) commandant besides central intelligence officials at Oakover, his official residence in Shimla, to take stock of operational preparedness on Friday.
Thakur had cancelled his visit to the frontier areas in the first week of June due to the standoff in Ladakh. He was to visit Sumdoh, a strategic post between Lahaul and Spiti and Kinnaur, which is a military base. Himachal Pradesh shares a 260-km border with China in Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti districts.
During the review meeting, it was decided that villages along the border will not be evacuated for now.
BORDER VILLAGERS WORRIED
Villagers have been worried due to escalating tensions between the two countries. Namgia, Pooh, Tashigang, Sumdoh, Shalkar, and Dubling villages are located within 10km of the border.
Both India and China have deployed more units in the frontier areas after the face-off. China deployed more troops in Tunzuk and Shipki La, the main centre for the annual cross-border trade. The pass connects Kinnaur district with the Tibetan Autonomous Region.
The trade with China that begins in mid-June is held up this year due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the border tension in Ladakh and Sikkim.
KEEPING A WATCH
Meanwhile, DGP Kundu has asked superintendents of police in Kinnaur and Lahaul and Spiti districts to monitor the situation in border villages. “Both the district police chiefs have been directed to meet inhabitants of border districts,” Kundu said.
Police have also been asked to guard against rumour-mongering on social media.
Though the region remained largely peaceful during the 1962 aggression, the ITBP representative briefed the chief minister about activities of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) across the border. There is no suspicious activity along the border, he said.
ONLY TWO PASSES OPEN
Of the nine mountain passes in Himachal Pradesh on the border with China that forbids troops from both countries to intrude into each other’s territory, only two, namely Lepcha La and Shipki La, are open. The seven other passes are snowbound. They include Khimoku La and Simthong Pass, located ahead of the Trungla valley that crosses into China-occupied Tibet.
