INDO-PACIFIC India’s Push for Border Roads

OE Watch Commentary: The government of India has widely discussed plans to purchase new weapons and equipment in response to the dispute with China over the Line of Actual Control (LAC), which intensified in May of this year (see: “The Indian Army’s Shopping List,” OE Watch, September 2020). The accompanying excerpted article reports on another aspect of the Indian government’s plans to deal with the situation on the LAC and it shows how infrastructure will play a role in any future response to incidents amid reports that a few weapons acquisitions have fallen through or have been delayed. The article comes from The Print, an English- language news website in India, and it reports on how the Indian government “is planning to expand the motorable network along the India- China border by building two news roads — one connecting Pooh in Himachal Pradesh Road sign from BRO’s Himank project in Ladakh, India. Source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sign_in_Ladakh_02.jpg to Chumar in Ladakh, and the other linking Attribution: CC BY YA 4.0 Harsil in Uttarakhand to Karcham in Himachal Pradesh” and that in addition to these roads, the government “stepped up work on an alternate road being built to Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO), where India’s highest airstrip is located, in eastern Ladakh.” The article goes on to note how “the two new roads are not part of the 73 India-China Border Roads (ICBRs) planned for brisk movement of troops and weapons — a project already under way.” The article provides a brief explanation of how the new roads (between Pooh and Chumar and between Harsil and Karcham) “will provide additional flexibility to the deployment of troops along the LAC and also allow a faster switching of their locations.” The article also includes a statement from a government official, who said “the faster construction of the alternate route to DBO remains the government’s top priority” and that “in case there is an attack on the vital logistics supply route to DBO (the existing road), this route will be away from the direct enemy line of sight and delay detection of troops and logistics movement.” The article also highlights issues with the Border Roads Organization (BRO), including delays in construction. It mentions that “while the BRO earlier had been questioned repeatedly over the inordinate delays in the construction of the identified border roads, government officials said the pace has increased substantially in the last few years” and how the BRO “built close to 10 bridges last year on the roads in eastern Ladakh alone,” before the most recent incidents with China took place this year. Ultimately, the Indian government appears to be pushing to build up better roads near the LAC as it continues to work out the logistics of deployments to the region and alongside acquisition efforts.”End OE Watch Commentary (Stein)

“Under the India-China Border Roads (ICBR) programme conceptualised in the late 1990s by the China Study Group — and subsequently cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security for construction in 1999 — a total of 73 roads measuring 4,643 km had to be constructed along the China border”

OE Watch | November 2020 36 INDO-PACIFIC Continued: India’s Push for Border Roads

Source: “Modi govt’s infra push along China border — 2 new roads, alternate route to Daulat Beg Oldie,” The Print, 15 September 2020.

The Narendra Modi government is planning to expand the motorable network along the India-China border by building two news roads — one connecting Pooh in Himachal Pradesh to Chumar in Ladakh, and the other linking Harsil in Uttarakhand to Karcham in Himachal Pradesh. It has also stepped up work on an alternate road being built to Daulat Beg Oldie (DBO), where India’s highest airstrip is located, in eastern Ladakh…The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), under the Ministry of Defence, will be constructing all three roads. The two new roads are not part of the 73 India-China Border Roads (ICBRs) planned for brisk movement of troops and weapons — a project already under way. Government sources told ThePrint that both roads will be around 150-km long, and that construction would be a tedious task given that it would involve cutting through multiple passes… …They will provide additional flexibility to the deployment of troops along the LAC and also allow a faster switching of their locations. At present, it takes nearly 20 hours by road to traverse the 720-km long distance between Pooh and Chumar. Harsil and Karcham are separated by nearly 450 km, a distance that takes over 16 hours to cover. Pooh is a strategically important town located just 18 km by road from the LAC, while a key military post lies at Chumar along the LAC, south east of Pangong Tso…Harsil and Karcham are about 52 and 26 km, respectively, from the border with China… A second senior government official told ThePrint that the faster construction of the alternate route to DBO remains the government’s top priority. This alternate road in Eastern Ladakh will start from Sassoma along the Nubra river to the vital locations of Sasser La and Gapshan before joining the existing route to DBO… Sasser La is situated at a height of nearly 18,000 ft — even higher than the Khardung La pass — while Gapshan is located in a valley that subsequently joins the existing DS-DBO road. The existing Durbuk-Shyok-DBO road — which runs literally along the LAC — is 255-km long and is currently the only road to reach DBO. It has 47 bridges on it… “In case there is an attack on the vital logistics supply route to DBO (the existing road), this route will be away from the direct enemy line of sight and delay detection of troops and logistics movement,” the official said… The BRO has been constructing multiple road networks and strengthening the existing road infrastructure connecting the forward locations of Pangong Tso and others through eastern Ladakh… While the BRO earlier had been questioned repeatedly over the inordinate delays in the construction of the identified border roads, government officials said the pace has increased substantially in the last few years. The BRO built close to 10 bridges last year on the roads in eastern Ladakh alone. Under the India-China Border Roads (ICBR) programme conceptualised in the late 1990s by the China Study Group — and subsequently cleared by the Cabinet Committee on Security for construction in 1999 — a total of 73 roads measuring 4,643 km had to be constructed along the China border…

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OE Watch | November 2020 37