On Wednesday, Lt. General Rana Pratap Kalita, commander of the Eastern Army, said that India will be able to catch up to China in terms of building up infrastructure along their borders in a couple of years.
He said the Chinese have an edge in some areas because they were the first to build infrastructure there.
“In the last five to ten years, a lot of work has gone into building up infrastructure. I’m sure that in another couple of years, we will be able to match the capabilities of the PLA (People’s Liberation Army of China),” Lt. General R. P. Kalita, who is in charge of the Eastern Army Command, told reporters at Fort William.
Kalita, who is retiring on December 31, said that there is still a lot of work to be done but that it can be done by that date if India keeps building infrastructure at the rate it is.
He also said that from an infrastructure point of view, the PLA has some advantages over India right now in some places. “Otherwise, we have been able to match,” he stated.
When asked about the most important places to build infrastructure in border areas so that it can be used by both civilians and soldiers, Kalita said that connecting roads up to the border posts, data and mobile connections, helipads, and airports in remote areas were at the top of the list.
“Because of large distances involved and these areas being prone to landslides, snowslides and avalanches, we need to depend on helipads and ALGs (advanced landing grounds) to a large measure,” he stated.
He also talked about how important it is to have places for people to stay and work in these areas.
Kalita said that there are plans to build new roads so that Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh can join with each other.
Parts of the main national highway 10 at Singtam in the small Himalayan state of Sikkim were washed away by flash floods in the Teesta river on October 4. This cut off north Sikkim, which is strategically important. Sikkim shares borders with China, Nepal, and Bhutan.
