'Focus on rapid development of infra along China border for strategic reasons'

India has focused on a rapid development of infrastructure along the northern borders with China for obvious strategic reasons External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday amid the continuing 33month border row in eastern LadakhThe minister told a group of reporters that the work on the strategically important ChushulDungtiFukcheDemchok road spanning 135 kilometres in the Ladakh region began last monthJaishankar pointed out that 16 key passes required to maintain troops along the border with China have been opened in a record time and much ahead of the previous years resulting in the saving of enormous funds in terms of the air sustenance of cutoff areas Some of the mountain passes along the border areas in Arunachal Pradesh Sikkim and Ladakh have to be closed during the harsh winter months due to heavy snowfallGiving an account of the governments priorities Jaishankar said the length of 6806 kilometres of roads constructed along the borders with China from 2014 to 2022 was almost double the length of 3610 kilometres built between 2008 and 2014 In case of construction of bridges along the border with China he said the total length was 7270 metres from 2008 to 2014 while it went up to 22439 metres during the period between 2014 and 2022Sixteen key passes which are required to maintain the troops on the China border have opened in a record time much ahead of the previous years thus saving enormous funds in terms of air sustenance of cutoff areas apart from immense economic and strategic advantages Jaishankar said Citing an example he said the traffic on the crucial Zojila axis was extended till January 4 last year and it was opened again on March 19 setting an alltime record of the pass being opened in just 73 days against the traditional norms of fourfive monthsAlso read Indias focus should be on reducing dependence on China says NITI Aayogs Suman BeryWe have focused on a rapid development of infrastructure along the northern borders with China for obvious strategic reasons Jaishankar saidWe have focused on rapidly developing border connectivity with our friendly neighbours to enhance trade energy and other peopletopeople exchanges he addedThe external affairs minister said the construction of the Sela tunnel on the BaliparaCharduarTawang road located at a height of 13700 feet will offer allweather connectivity to the Indian Army to the Line of Actual Control LAC near TawangIt consists of two tunnels one 1790 metres long another 475 metres long The construction of the tunnel is expected to be completed by August Once completed it will be the worlds longest bilane tunnel located at a height of more than 13000 feetThe external affairs minister also spoke about the adoption of new technologies for the construction of infrastructure in highaltitude and inaccessible border areas He specifically referred to indigenous modular bridges of load class70 and the use of a special nonfrost susceptible subbase NFSSB layer for road projects in LadakhThe external affairs minister also highlighted various connectivity projects with neighbouring countries including Nepal Bangladesh and Bhutan