INS HANSA, GOA, May 11: India today made it clear that the recent border spat with China will have no impact on the ongoing infrastructure development projects along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) which had irked Beijing.
Defence Minister A K Antony told mediapersons after commissioning the first Mig-29K squadron of Indian Navy here that India had the right to carry out activities inside its territory just as China was within its right to strengthen its position on the other side.
Ongoing projects would continue unabated, he said adding that India has been firming up its defences all along the LAC by adding more troops, activating airstrips, constructing roads and rail links. The work has been going on for some years now and it has begun to bother China.
The Defence Minister refused to be drawn in the controversy over any “deal” with China for ending the three-week-long border row. It was claimed that India had agreed to remove some bunkers in the Chumar sector in south eastern Ladakh as a quid pro quo for withdrawal of Chinese troops from Raki Nala in the Depsang valley around 30 kms south of DBO.
Mr Antony emphasised that the two sides had agreed to maintain status quo ante as existed on April 15 — the day Chinese troops pitched 5 tents 19 kms inside India’s territory .
The bunkers in Chumar, which also falls in the disputed zone along the LAC, were learnt to be constructed in response to the Chinese incursion and the Indian side maintained that they were only observation posts whose removal will have no impact on the surveillance apparatus in the area.
Mr Antony also said the border management agreement talks are underway. An official from the Ministry of External Affairs and another from the army are engaged in discussions. He said it would be premature to comment on the status of negotiations.
China has proposed Border Defence Cooperation agreement in March this year and India was reluctant to accept it as the process of finding solution to the boundary question by the special representatives of the two countries has remained inconclusive despite 15 rounds of talks.
Beijing is pushing for bringing border talks on the front burner while India is not in favour of rushing with the process. The Depsang valley incursion was meant for including border talks in the agenda during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s visit later this month, sources said.
The BDCA was also discussed during the visit of External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid to Beijing, the sources added.
While commissioning Mig-29K squadron on the occasion of completion of 60 years of naval aviation, which is meant to operate from India’s two under construction aircraft carriers INS Vikramaditya and Indigenous Aircraft Carrier (IAC), Mr Antony said protecting the sea lanes was a priority.
INS Vikramaditya, earlier known as Admiral Gorshkov, has skipped several deadlines and the Russians have promised that it will be commissioned in December this year. Mr Antony also announced that IAC will be launched on August 12 at Cochin shipyard. After much delay, the IAC is expected to be commissioned in 2018, five years after the launch.
The commissioning of first Mig-29K squadron also meant that the Russian aircraft will take over the role of navy’s main combatant from Sea Harriers which will soon fade into history. The navy has ordered 45 Mig-29Ks out of which 20 have been delivered.
(UNI)
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