New Delhi, Nov 2 (IANS) Minister of State for Defence M.M. Pallam Raju Wednesday said there was no need to panic over China’s military infrastructure along the borders as India was taking adequate counter measures.
‘I do not think we need to be particularly alarmed as far as the China border is concerned. They have a definitive established mechanism as far as the differing perceptions of the borders is concerned,’ Raju told reporters on the sidelines of a business meeting.
‘Apart from that, we are taking adequate measure,’ Raju added.
India has approved several steps to rapidly increase its troop strength along the Sino-Indian border by nearly one lakh soldiers, by raising a new mountain strike corps, two mountain divisions and two mountain brigades.
India is also building military infrastructure such as border roads, airfields and advanced landing grounds.
A recent army commanders conference too talked about ‘force accretion’ along India’s border with both China and Pakistan. The army at present has about 1.13 million troops that includes nearly 37,000 officers.
India has completed raising two mountain divisions in the northeast, a process that began three years ago. Two more mountain brigades are being raised for Ladakh and Uttarakhand.
It has opened three advanced landing grounds in Daulat Beg Oldi, Fuk Che and Nyoma, all in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ladakh region, in the last three years.
It also plans more such airfields in the northeast too, particularly in Arunachal Pradesh, which is claimed by China as Lower Tibet.
The total cost of force accretion and infrastructure development is expected to be to the tune of Rs.64,000 crore.
‘We are keen on securing our borders. The nation will take all adequate measures that are needed to secure our borders,’ Raju said. He added that there was ‘no tension’ between India and China on the borders.
