Will be constructed at the cost of Rs 1681.51 cr
ITBP gets 7 new bns, operational border base
Rs 4800 cr for Vibrant Village Scheme in Ladakh, 4 States
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Feb 15: In a major step aimed at providing all-weather connectivity to Ladakh, the Union Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi today approved a proposal for construction of 4.1 kilometer long tunnel under Shinkun La on Manali-Darcha-Padam-Nimu axis which will also ensure uninterrupted supply to the troops in Eastern Ladakh where Sino-Indian troops are engaged in eyeball-to-eyeball position at various friction points on the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The Cabinet also sanctioned seven new battalions and an operational border base with a fresh strength of 9400 personnel for the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which guards the India-China LAC.
Official sources told the Excelsior that it was Darcha-Padam-Nimu route which was used by the troops for transporting weaponry to Eastern Ladakh after confrontation with China in the Eastern Ladakh in May 2020. The BRO constructed black top road on this route in 2019 but it could not be used in winter months due to heavy snow on 16703 feet high Shinkun La.
The road is critical to the defence of Ladakh as it is sheltered from both Pakistani and Chinese long range artillery or missile firing unlike the exposed Srinagar-Drass-Kaksar-Kargil highway near LoC and the Manali-Upshi-Leh highway near the LAC respectively.
However, construction of tunnel under Shinkun La will be of immense help to the troops guarding LAC in Eastern Ladakh as it will provide all-weather connectivity to Ladakh and help troops move along with all kind of supplies including weaponry.
The Union Cabinet cleared the tunnel and the approach roads on both sides at the cost of Rs1681.51 crore. It will be completed by December 2025. Since the BRO has already done road cutting and black topping of the approaches on both sides to Shinkun La, the Government will now only have to complete the 4.1 km underground pass, sources said.
Nimu in Ladakh is close to Kargil as well as Leh. This means that the Indian Army can do faster deployment of forces and equipment if a situation flares up in Kargil-Siachen sector or in Eastern Ladakh.
Providing details of the Cabinet decision, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said the tunnel will be completed by December 2025 at a cost of Rs 1,681 crore.
The length of the tunnel will be 4.1 km. An approach will also be built by December 2025.
The Shinkun La tunnel will provide all-weather road connectivity to Ladakh and this will be the shortest route to the border areas of the Union territory, Thakur said.
“This (project) is also very important as far as the security and safety of the country is concerned…. It will also help in the movement of our security forces in that region,” Thakur said.
Meanwhile, the Government today sanctioned hiring of 9,400 fresh troops for raising seven new border battalions apart from a new operational base for the India-China LAC guarding force ITBP.
The proposal was cleared during the meeting of the CCS that was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
About 90,000 personnel strong ITBP was raised in the aftermath of the 1962 Chinese aggression and it is tasked with guarding the 3,488-km-long Line of Actual Control (LAC) on India’s eastern flank. The force is working along with the Army at this front even as the militaries of India and China are engaged in a standoff at Ladakh from 2020.
According to the Government sanction, the fresh manpower will be utilised for manning 47 new border posts and a dozen ‘staging camps’ or troops bases.
The battalions and the sector headquarter are expected to be put in place by 2025-26, Thakur said.
He said a non-recurring expenditure of Rs 1,808.15 crore is estimated to be spent for land acquisition, creation of office and residential buildings, and arms and ammunition while a recurring annual expenditure of Rs 963.68 crore will be done under the salaries and rations head for the fresh manpower.
Officials said the creation of 47 new border posts will lead to a 26 per cent increase in the strength of these bases while the induction of 9,400 fresh personnel will enhance its strength by 10 per cent. The force has 176 border posts at the LAC currently.
Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet approved a Rs 4,800 crore allocation for the ‘Vibrant Villages Programme’ (VVP), a Centrally-Sponsored Scheme, to ensure the comprehensive development of villages along the northern border areas.
The financial allocation for 2022-23 to 2025-26 was approved at a meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and will include Rs 2,500 crore for the development of roads infrastructure, Anurag Thakur said.
VVP was announced by the Central Government last year.
The scheme, he said, will provide funds for the development of essential infrastructure and the creation of livelihood opportunities in 19 districts and 46 border blocks in four States of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and the Union Territory of Ladakh along the northern land border of the country.
Thakur said the comprehensive development of villages along the northern border will improve the quality of life of people living there and help in encouraging them to stay in their native locations in these areas, thereby reversing the out-migration and adding to improved security of the border.
Asked whether the decision is linked with strengthening the security in border villages with China, the Minister made it clear that those areas where development had not reached and the people of such areas had to migrate out, an opportunity has been provided to them to ensure they get employment and self-employment opportunities as the development will reach their villages on the same lines as that in other villages.
“The Prime Minister has given priority to the development of villages, especially on the border areas and whatever steps are required for national security the Modi Government has taken. But, the Prime Minister has ensured that equal opportunities are provided to those border areas where development had not reached so far. PM Modi has thought about this which no one had ever thought till now.
“There is so much beauty and opportunities at the border, but the lack of opportunities and development on the border areas has forced people to migrate from there. People who were forced to migrate now have opportunities to reach out to border villages and see the beauty of villages in India,” he said.
All schemes of the Government should also reach the remotest villages of the border areas to ensure that border villages turn vibrant, the Minister said.
“You can see this linking it with national security or the development of these villages, there can be different perspectives, but these villages will become developed and it is also important from the security perspective.
“We have taken several steps to ensure India’s security. Where India was an importer of defence equipment, now it is doing exports under Make in India in the defence sector,” Thakur said.
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