Connectivity to All 168 Villages along India – China Border in One Year: Amit Shah
NEW DELHI, Nov 10: The Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on Friday that 168 villages along the China border that did not have any connectivity yet, would be connected by road and other forms of communication in one year.
Speaking at the 62nd Raising Day parade of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in Dehradun, Mr Shah said the country’s security would suffer if border villages were emptied out due to migration and the vibrant village programme (VVP) would ensure that all facilities and infrastructure reached there.
He said the country could not be safe without development of border areas. The ITBP is the primary force deployed along the 3,488 km China border.
Mr Shah said recently seven battalions of the ITBP were sanctioned by the government and out of them, four battalions would be deployed shortly. The Home Minister said these seven battalions and one sector headquarters would be built at a cost of approximately ₹3,000 crores.
The Centre wanted the border villages to be treated as first villages not just geographically but also in terms of facilities, he said. “Prime Minister Narendra Modi has introduced the concept of vibrant village programme to provide best facilities to people living in the border villages so that their population is not just sustained but also increased,” Mr Shah said.
He said before 2014, the average spend on border infrastructure was ₹4,000 crore per year and in the past nine-and-a-half years, it had trebled to ₹12,340 crores with money being spent on road, border outposts and infrastructure.
India and China are engaged in a stand-off at several locations in eastern Ladakh since April-May 2020. Mr Shah said whenever he heard of any news from India-China border, he was confident that not even an inch of land would be occupied as the ITBP was posted there.
He said a budgetary allocation of ₹4,800 crore had been made to create adequate infrastructural, health and educational facilities in 662 border villages of 19 districts under the vibrant village programme. The ITBP could also be made the nodal agency for carrying out developmental work in the border villages, he said.
(Manas Dasgupta)
