Strengthening our border logistically: New Guwahati-Tawang Axis coming up in 2 years

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• Oct 19, 2021 | moderator

New Delhi: Owing to the standoff with China in eastern Ladakh, the entire Line of Control has been facing a tense situation forcing India to ramp up its border infrastructure, including roads, bridges and habitat to strengthen its borders from any incursion.

A new axis connecting Guwahati to the strategically crucial Tawang is in the offing that is scheduled to come up in the next two years. In order to ramp up security infrastructure along the crucial border areas and develop northeast borders, defence officials while speaking to a national daily said that the new route will not only boost border connectivity and aid in faster mobilization of troops, but will strengthen the overall military logistical setup.

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The planned route will be around 180-km long, running through Kalaktang and connecting Shergaon to Rupa and further to Tawang. The Tawang district shares borders with the Tibet Autonomous Region to the north and Bhutan to the south-west.

It will be an alternative route to the existing Balipara-Charduar-Tawang (BCT) axis and run parallel to it. The proposed route will bypass the Sela pass and go through lower altitudes and lesser populated areas.

Apart from the BCT axis, the Orang-Kalaktang-Shergaon-Rupa-Tawang is the other axis connecting Guwahati to Tawang at present.

Stressing on the border developmental projects that will give an impetus to the overall military preparedness in the region, Major General Zubin A Minwalla, General-Officer-Commanding of the 5 Mountain Division, stressed that there has been a tremendous push on infrastructure development by both the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and the civilian government in the region.

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The 5 Mountain Division is one of the two divisions deployed in the region. It oversees the sensitive Bum la pass near the LAC to the west of Bhutan.

The military is using the state of the art technology to increase awareness of the entire situation. Surveillance equipment, many of them indigenously made is deployed along the LAC to detect movement of people and vehicles. They are also used in the facial recognition of enemy troops and to gather intelligence. Data from all ground-based and air-borne surveillance assets are related real-time to a surveillance centre in Rupa manned 24×7 by Army personnel.