AMN
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh today asked border guarding force ITBP and governments of Himalayan states to remain “very vigilant” against Chinese transgression along the Sino-Indian border saying such incidents take place due to perceptional differences.
Addressing a first-ever meeting of chief ministers of five Himalayan states, Singh also asked Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh governments to undertake developmental activities along the 3,488-km long Sino-Indian border so that people living in these areas do not have to migrate. He also said, the thinning of population and migration from the border areas is a cause of concern.
The Home Minister said the problem of connectivity in border areas pose several challenges which needed to overcome. Mr Singh said, the problem of connectivity in border areas pose several challenges which needed to overcome. Mr Singh said, in the first stage Ministry of Home Affairs is building 27 roads near the border which will be completed by 2019-20 and Approval is being given to 48 other roads.
He said the central government is also focusing on consolidated development of model villages in border districts. He said these border states should send more number of proposals to the Centre for development of model villages in the border areas.
The home minister said inhospitable conditions near the border makes patrolling extremely difficult and in spite of these odds the security forces were doing a great job. He hoped that future action plan on border security will be chalked out after analysing key outcome of independent patrolling along the boundary.
He also said, due to perceptional differences, there have been transgression by the Chinese PLA in the past. He added, such incidents are resolved through the existing mechanism.
Chief ministers of Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh Trivendra Singh Rawat, Pawan Kumar Chamling and Pema Khandu respectively and representatives of Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh attended the meeting.
The objective of the chief ministers meeting is to strengthen the coordination between the Union home ministry and the five states along the Sino-Indian border to improve the overall border security.
The Home Minister, Rajnath Singh has stressed that the Center and state should work together for development of border areas along India -China border.
He said the Indo-China border is demarcated, extremely cold with very difficult terrain and thus more importance should be given about infrastructure and peace in the border areas.
Rajnath Singh informed that the center fund for Border Area Development Programmes (BADP) has been increased from 990 Crore to 1100 Crore in the current financial year.
He also praised the work of ITBP and said that the Centre was doing everything feasible for their smooth functioning in overcoming challenges The Home Minister briefed about the various developmental projects being implemented by the Ministry in the Border States. He also shared some of the projects and proposals on the pipeline.