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| China gets a road grounded in Ladakh | | Orders were ‘apparently’ from Delhi: Sagar | | Early Times Report
Jammu, Nov, 30: As the far off Demchuk becomes latest Chinese finger-point and hundreds of locals as well as thousands of visitors lose the opportunity of trying a hot spring with healing qualities, it is unclear who exactly got a small stretch of road under National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme off midway in Ladakh.
Jammu and Kashmir’s lone representative in UPA Cabinet Dr Farooq Abdullah skirts the reports that road construction work was stopped after Chinese protest as he believes this might have happened due to extreme cold weather conditions there. However, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has been quoted by a newspaper confirming that work was stopped after Chinese protests as the paper further quoted CM as saying, “the matter has been brought to the notice of Government of India”.
The Minister for Rural Development Ali Mohammad Sagar, whose department runs the NREGS, appears to be having the real story. Sagar told Early Times this evening that work was stopped on the directions of the Government of India. Sagar’s statement clearly suggests that Chinese protest came to be lodged at highest level and not just through its Army on the Line of Actual Control.
Though Sagar’s office or his administrative department did not receive any direct letter from the Government of India, authorities in Leh were apparently informed to put the work on road off. Sagar said, “there was Chinese protest on the road construction and work was stopped after Engineers were instructed there to do so”. He, however, did not clearly specify as who exactly asked the Engineers to stop work.
The road was being constructed on the demand of the locals as there is a hot water spring on this side where hydro-therapy centre, which has become major attraction for people from other parts of the Ladakh region. He said the Centre and the state had been informed about the development.
China, it may be mentioned here, has occupied illegally 37,555 sq km since the 1962 Indo-China war while another 5,180 sq km had been ceded to China by Pakistan from Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).
In what seems to be another example of China showing its assertiveness - the state Government has stopped work on a strategic road project after the Chinese indicated their reservations over the same.
As the controversy over China's intrusion some areas in Leh was still to be settled, the neighbouring country has forced the Government to stop work on the eight-km-long road at Demchok, bordering China's occupied area in Leh.
The Deputy Commissioner, Leh, informed the Government about the stop of work on the road after Chinese objections. Efforts were made to reach to the Deputy Commissioner Leh Ajit Kumar Sahu but he was out of station.
Demchok is right on the border, the last Indian military post to foil any Chinese intrusion, The sources, adding that there is a nallah coming down from the mountains and on eastern side there is the Tibetan border.
The sources said on Chinese side, they had already built a road along this nallah upstream, Chering Dorjay, Chief Executive Councillor (CEO) of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, (LAHDC) Leh, said.
The road was being constructed on the demand of the locals as there is a hot water spring on this side where hydro-therapy centre, which has become major attraction for people from other parts of the Ladakh region. He said the Centre and the state had been informed about the development.
A road link between Demchok and Ladakh has always remained at center of controversy. A Ladakhi MLC P Namgyal had moved a resolution in Legislative Council in March 2005 seeking opening of Demchok Road. Following this, the Ladakh Affairs of state government wrote to the Union Home Minister about the local demand. Later the Home Ministry in its reply to J&K government said that matter was being pursued by the External Affairs Ministry.
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