Learning from the 73-day-long bitter experience in the Doklam Plateau, where the Indian and Chinese armies were engaged in a stand-off over construction of a road in a disputed territory in Bhutan, nearly a dozen Chinese civilian workers, who recently transgressed into the Indian side for road construction, went back after Indian security forces asked them to do so.
And, without engaging in any war of words, the Chinese left quietly from the area. Indian security forces intercepted the Chinese workers on a border village in the Upper Siang district of Arunachal Pradesh, where they were found to be laying roads.
Narrating the incident, defence officials, based in South Block, claim that the "issue is being resolved through the established coordination mechanism between the two countries."
Making it clear that there was no presence of Chinese soldiers, defence officials claim that "in the whole incident, there was no direct contact between the Indian Army and PLA (People Liberation Army)."
Official sources maintained that incident was reported on December 28, when local villagers spotted Chinese labourers, preparing the groundwork for road construction. The Chinese had dug the ground for about 400m, as the first step of road laying, according to Indian defence officials.
"When locals reported the matter to the security forces, a joint team of ITBP and Indian Army intercepted Chinese workers and asked them to leave the area; though they immediately followed instructions from the security forces, they left back two excavators and a water mouser at the site. After the incident, Indian security personnel are there near the equipment, which has to be returned," an official said, while adding that the Chinese were preparing the ground for laying the road, the first stage of road laying.
Defence officials maintained that after the Doklam incident, it has been observed that the Chinese have increased their road construction activities in the area. In fact, for the first time, Chinese troops have not moved back during winters, as they are sitting close to 30km to the Doklam plateau. The Chinese Army is building up its infrastructure in the area by digging tunnels to avoid detection by satellite or drones to transport its military assets.
While on the other hand, the Indian side is also building its infrastructure along the Line of Actual Control. As per the operational requirement of the Indian Army, 530 roads of length 22,803km are identified for construction/improvement by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO). During the last three years, formation cutting of 3,702km, surfacing of 6,296km, permanent works worth Rs 3,558 crore and major bridges of length of 6,088m have been carried out.
As many as 73 roads have been identified as strategic Indo-China border roads (ICBR), out of which 61 ICBRs have been entrusted to the Border Roads Organization, with a length of 3,417.50km, which were planned to be completed by 2012. But till date, only 27 roads of length of nearly 922 km have been completed while other 34 roads are under construction.
In reply to a question in Parliament, Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre on Tuesday cited multiple reasons for the delay including forest/wildlife clearance, hard rock stretches, limited working season, difficulties in availability of construction material, delay in land acquisition and damages due to natural disasters.
