India's increased sending has helped significantly upgrade roads and bridges along the Line of Actual Control. This is being seen as one of the key reasons for increased Chinese aggression in the area.
India’s expenditure on roads along the border with China has nearly tripled the last four years, compared to what was spent in the decade until 2016, The Economic Times has reported.
The sending has helped significantly upgrade to roads and bridges. This is being seen as one of the key reasons for increased Chinese aggression along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
The data collated and analysed by the newspaper suggests that the allocation for these roads witnessed a sharp increase from about Rs 4,600 crore to Rs 11,800 crore between financial years 2016 and 2020-21.
In 2016, the government spending on these roads had increased by just Rs 1,300 crore from Rs 3,300 crore in 2008 to Rs 4,600 crore.
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Incidentally, tensions between India and China had escalated at multiple occasions between 2013 and now. This includes stand-offs and incidents in Depsang, Chumar and Doklam, besides the recent face-offs in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley and Pangong Tso. The report cites officials as saying that there was at least 50-60 percent surge in LAC violations by China in 2018-19.
Between 2017 and 2020, India has worked on fresh alignments of roads and earthworks, at a pace of 470 kilometres per year. This is double of the 230 km done per year in the decade until 2017.
Read our complete coverage on the India-China border tensions