ROADS TO CHINA

India is sprucing up its frontier with China by taking up a massive four-year project to connect villages, military posts and towns strung on the border across the Himalayas from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh.The Border Roads Organisation (BRO), the military road builder, has asked for Rs 2,140 crore this year for the project to be completed by 2012.The identification of the connections — some of the roads will be rebuilt while others will be newly laid — began after the Centre reversed its decision in 2006 to not upgrade links along the still-disputed border with China.Since 1962, the central policy pursued by successive governments, but rarely spelt out, has been to allow the connections across the Himalayas with China to degenerate. That was the outcome of a threat perception that it would make it easier for supposedly stronger Chinese forces to roll down to India in the event of hostilities.The first effect of the reversal of the policy, however, was felt in July 2006 when India and China agreed to start limited border trade through Nathu-la in Sikkim. Now, the Centre has asked the BRO to build or rebuild 71 roads.The project involves laying fresh roads, double-laning and/or black-topping existing roads and repairing bridges in Ladakh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and, most significantly, in Arunachal.