Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Oct 5: Close on the heels of Defence Minister AK Antony and Army chief Gen Bikram Singh’s visits to Ladakh region including forward areas, bordering China, Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde is embarking on a two days tour to the region from tomorrow during which he would also visit some forward areas.
Mr Shinde would have a detailed meeting with top brass of Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), which has nearly four battalions in Leh deployed at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) along Sino-Indian border.
This would be first visit of Mr Shinde to Jammu and Kashmir after taking over the Union Home Minister from P Chidambaram. However, his visit would be confined to Leh and Kargil districts of Ladakh region.
Official sources told the Excelsior that Mr Shinde would reach Leh tomorrow morning and had a detailed interaction with top brass of ITBP, a para-military force with presence of at least four battalions in the mountain locked region, which has been deployed in most of the areas at the LAC along Indo-China border.
The Union Home Minister would also visit some of the forward areas along China border in Ladakh, meet the Commanders and soldiers deployed there and interact with them.
Mr Shinde would also meet Chief Executive Councilor of Leh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC), Rigzin Spalbar and had a briefing from on the situation prevailing in Leh with special reference to the areas bordering China.
Worthwhile to mention here that the LAHDC and the district administration in Leh had pointed out a number of incidents of transgressions by Chinese people and People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of China in the border areas of Ladakh.
After night halt in Leh, the Union Home Minister would fly to Kargil on Sunday, where he would undertake a tour of some forward areas along Indo-Pak border. He would meet LAHDC, Kargil chief and other Councilors before flying to Punjab in the afternoon.
In Punjab, the Home Minister would visit Attari-Wagah border in Amritsar district and interact with the Border Security Force (BSF) jawans and officers posted there before returning to New Delhi.
Sources said Mr Shinde would also receive delegations in Leh and Kargil and listen to their problems during his two days visit. He was also scheduled to meet the people living close to Indo-China border in Leh and Indo-Pak border in Kargil and had a first hand information about the situation in the border villages especially along China.
Indo-Pak border in Kargil was peaceful for the past quite sometime now. However, it was in some areas of Leh along Indo-China border, where PLA and Chinese people have been creating disturbances sometimes. China has also generated a lot of infrastructure on their side of LAC in Ladakh.
India has been watching seriously the developments along Sino-Indian border not only in Ladakh but also in North East. India has also been raising its infrastructure along China border at all the places though it has maintained that both the countries enjoyed peaceful relations between them.
However, a slew of visits by top functionaries of the Government to Ladakh indicated that India was not going to take any chance in building infrastructure to match China.
Defence Minister AK Antony, Minister of State for Home Dr M Pallam Raju and Army chief Gen Bikram Singh had recently visited Ladakh and had a detailed review of the situation with Army, ITBP and civil administration.
Sources said the construction of tunnel at Z Morh at the cost of Rs 2717 crore to provide all weather connectivity to Leh by the Union Government was also aimed at building infrastructure in Ladakh. Foundation stone of the tunnel was yesterday laid by Union Surface and Transport Minister CP Joshi in the presence of AICC (I) general secretary Rahul Gandhi and Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
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