How India is ramping up border infra to boost military readiness

The military’s readiness, among other things, depends on infrastructure in forward areas

India’s infrastructure push along its farthest frontiers, a firm and focussed response to China’s thrust on developing its border areas, is set to get a boost with new roads, bridges, tunnels, airfields and helipads -- the latest in a raft of projects worth thousands of crores that have supported the military’s pursuit of robust deterrence against the neighbour with whom the country has been locked in a standoff in eastern Ladakh for more than three years, Border Roads Organisation (BRO) officials aware of the matter said on Monday.

As things stand, China has an edge over India in border infrastructure, but the country is on the fastest way to bridge the gaps, BRO officials said. (AP)

The military’s readiness, among other things, depends on infrastructure in forward areas -- a landscape dotted with towering mountains, valleys and rivers -- and India is firing on all cylinders to ensure that its deployed forces hold an advantageous position, the officials said, asking not to be named.

As things stand, China has an edge over India in border infrastructure, but the country is on the fastest way to bridge the gaps, they said.

The progress is being tracked at the highest levels of the government, said one of the officials cited above.

Defence minister Rajnath Singh, who has ensured that BRO gets adequate funds to build and modernise border infrastructure, will on Tuesday inaugurate the projects near India’s border with China, with the increased connectivity in forward areas having a direct bearing on military mobility, logistics support for deployed forces, and movement of civilians in border states.

Singh will dedicate to the country 90 infrastructure projects constructed at a cost of ₹2,941 crore in areas stretching from Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim to Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh at a time when India and China are in talks to resolve lingering outstanding problems along the contested Line of Actual Control (LAC).

The minister will remotely inaugurate the projects from Jammu where he will open BRO’s 422-metre Devak bridge on Bishnah-Kaulpur-Phulpur road. The bridge will facilitate speedy induction of troops, heavy equipment and mechanised forces to forward areas and will also boost the region’s socio-economic development, the officials said.

“With each new project in the border areas, we are bridging the infrastructure gap with China. We have made significant progress since the standoff began, and many more key works will materialise in the coming years,” said a second official.

BRO, which is at the centre of the India’s border infrastructure push, has completed nearly 300 crucial projects (including the 90 to be inaugurated) in the country’s farthest frontiers during the last three years at a cost of ₹8,000 crore.

India lags China in border infrastructure but the country is catching up fast on the back of speedy execution of strategic projects to support military operations, increased spending, and focussed adoption of technology and techniques to fill gaps that came into focus after the standoff with China began, BRO chief Lieutenant General Rajeev Chaudhry said in an interview to HT last week. He added that India would catch up with China in the next three to four years.

Singh will on Tuesday inaugurate 63 bridges, 22 roads, one tunnel, two airfields and two helipads, said the officials, sharing details of the projects with HT.

Ladakh, the centre of the current border tensions with China, accounts for eight roads -- Leh-Chalunka, Darbuk-Tangtse, Tangtse-Lukung, Leh-Loma, Loma-Dungti, Mahe-Debring, Shyok realignment, and Burtse ITBP border outpost link. It also accounts for 17 bridges including several on the strategic Darbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldi (DS-DBO) road, and on other roads such as Hanle-Chumar, Upshi-Sarchu, Sanku-Kanur-Sapila-Mulbek, Langaru-Photoskar-Niraq, Hanuthang-Handonbroke, Nimu-Padam-Darcha and Phobrang-Marimikla-Hot Spring. The DS-DBO road provides connectivity to the country’s northern-most outpost, Daulat Beg Oldi.

Arunachal Pradesh also accounts for a chunk of the infrastructure projects -- eight roads and 27 bridges.

The new roads in the northeastern state include Jung bypass, Lagamche grazing ground-Mukto-Teli, Kaying-Tato, Karoti-Tenai and Nampong-Newputuk, while the new bridges have been constructed on roads including Orang-Kalakatang-Shergaon-Rupa-Tenga, Taliha-Nacho, Tato-Menchuka, Along-Yinkiong, Tato-Manigong-Tadadege, Meshai-Dichu, Changwinti-Walong-Namti, Namti-Kibithu, Anini-Mipi and Nampong-Vijaynagar.

Projects have moved at a brisk pace over the last three years.

BRO constructed an average of 934km of roads every year during 2020-23, compared to 809km per year during 2015-20, and 632km per year during 2008-15, official data shows. It also built an average of 3,652m of bridges every year during 2020-23, compared to 2,715m per year during 2015-20, and 1,224m per year during 2008-15. In the earlier years, India was defensive about building border infrastructure, the officials added.

The skirmish between the Indian Army and the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) in Galwan Valley in June 2020 was the inflection point that sharpened the country’s focus on building military capabilities and spurred unprecedented infrastructure construction to counter the adversary’s moves, Chaudhry earlier said.

Bilateral ties plummeted to a six-decade low after the Galwan Valley clash killed 20 Indian soldiers and an unspecified number of Chinese soldiers.

The other projects to be inaugurated by Singh include the reconstructed runways at Bagdogra and Barrackpore in West Bengal, the Nechiphu tunnel on the Balipara-Charduar-Tawang road in Arunachal Pradesh, and a helipad on the Sasoma-Saserla road.

These two airfields have been reconstructed by BRO at a cost of ₹529 core, and will not only improve the defensive and offensive posture of the Indian Air Force along northern borders with China but will also boost commercial flight operations in the region, the officials said.

Apart from inaugurating the new projects, Singh will also remotely lay the foundation stone for the upgradation of the Nyoma airfield near the LAC in eastern Ladakh to a full-fledged base for fighter operations. A crew of women officers will spearhead the Nyoma project, which is expected to be completed by September 2025.

The Nyoma airstrip was out of use for decades after the 1962 India-China war before IAF reactivated it in September 2009 and landed an AN-32 transport aircraft there for the first time. IAF has operated its C-130J special operations aircraft, AN-32s and helicopters from Nyoma in support of the military’s forward deployments, including during the ongoing LAC row with China.

Another 60 BRO projects will be completed by the year-end, including the Sela tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh, the world’s longest twin-lane tunnel above 13,000 feet that will allow faster deployment of weapons and soldiers to forward areas in the Tawang sector. The tunnel will be ready by the end of September.

India is keeping a close track of border infrastructure development by China. The neighbour’s unrelenting infrastructure push during the last three years, confirmed by satellite images, encompasses the construction of new airbases, missile sites, roads, bridges, reinforced bunkers, underground facilities to protect military assets from aerial strikes, accommodation for soldiers and ammunition depots.

BRO’s funding has jumped over the years to enable faster development of infrastructure. Its expenditure, which ranged from ₹3,305 crore per year to ₹4,670 crore per year during 2008-17, has climbed steadily in recent years and is projected to be around ₹15,000 crore in 2023-24, the data shows. The expenditure stood at ₹12,340 crore in 2022-23, ₹9,375 crore in 2021-22, ₹8,763 crore in 2020-21 and ₹7,737 crore in 2019-20.

BRO’s ongoing projects in the Ladakh sector include the Nimu-Padam-Darcha road, the Chushul-Dungti-Fukche-Demchok road, the Likaru-Mig La-Fukche road, and providing alternative connectivity to Daulet Beg Oldi.

At the 19th round of talks between corps commanders of the two armies on August 13 and 14, the two sides agreed to resolve the remaining issues along the LAC in a speedy manner through continued dialogue.

Indian and Chinese soldiers have thus far disengaged from Galwan Valley, Pangong Tso, Gogra (PP-17A) and Hot Springs (PP-15). However, both armies still have tens of thousands of troops each and advanced weaponry deployed in the Ladakh theatre, and problems at Depsang and Demchok are still on the negotiating table.