NEW DELHI: More than four months after the 73-day-long Doklam standoff, fresh Chinese attempt to build roads inside Indian territory near Tuting area of Arunachal has come to light.
This time, China has been trying to lay roads past the British-era boundary pillar inside Arunachal Pradesh that marks the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the effective border between the two Asian giants.
“A few days back, two local hunters from the Adi tribe from Bishing village on their hunting trips found Chinese road laying equipment, including excavators and fuel gallons some distance inside Indian territory,” a local political leader told this newspaper on condition of not being named.
Bishing is the last habitation point towards the Sino-India border located about 50 km from Tuting. There are no roads from Tuting to Bishing. From Bishing, the LAC is located another 40 km away in a very rugged high altitude terrain.
This is also the location where the Yarlung Tsangpo river enters India after traversing the about 180 degree turn at the Great Bend where it becomes the Siang before being flowing in Assam as the Brahmaputra.
The Siang has been in the recent news after its waters turned turbid believed to be caused by a 6.4 strong earthquake in the Great Bend region which has led to the creation of at least three lakes posing grave danger to downstream areas.
Top government sources, however, downplayed the incident. “On December 28, 2017, our ITBP patrol team was on a regular reconnaissance and they observed few civilians undertaking track alignment activity in the Tuting area, approximately 1 km inside our own territory.”
“The Chinese civilians returned on the same day when asked to do so by the Indian troops. Currently some unattended civil construction equipment remains on the Indian side of the LAC.”
