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| Road construction along Indo-China border | | China illegally holds 38,000 sq. km of J&K: Mukherjee | |
B L KAK
NEW DELHI, DEC 1
Amid the renewed 'Hindi-Chini Bhai Bhai' talk, the Minister of External Affairs, Pranab Mukherjee, has dropped the brick, taking many by surprise with his assertion: "China continues to be in illegal occupation of approximately 38,000 squate kilometres in the Indian State of Jammu and Kashmir".
Mr Mukherjee's assertion, significantly, has become part of the official records of the Rajya Sabha. In his reply to a question by Abu Asim Azmi in the Rajya Sabha, the Minister of External Affairs placed himself on record as saying: "In addition, under the so-called China-Pakistan Boundary Agreement of 1963, Pakistan illegally ceded 5,180 square kilometres of Indian territory in Pakistan ocupied Kashmir (PoK) to China".
Pranab Mukherjee's yet another diatribe: "China illegally claims approximately 90,000 square kilometres of Indian teritory in the eastern sector, including Tawang". And Mukherjee's reply contained New Delhi's firm standpoint: Arunachal Pradesh is "an integral part of India".
Mukherjee informed Rajya Sabha that Special Representatives of India and China, appoointed in June 2003 to explore the framework for a boundary setlement from the political perspective opf the overall bilateral relationship, have so far held eight meetings. The first five meetings resulted in the signing of the Agreement on the Political Parameters and Guiding Principles for the setlement of the India-China boundary question on April 11, 2005.
The External Affairs Minister made it plain that the boundary settlement will involve the two sides making mutually acceptable adjustments to their respective positions on the boundary question, so as to arrive at a "package settlement". The Special Reperesentatives of India and China, Mukherjee said, would seek to complete at an early date the task of finalising an appropriate framework for a "finbal package settlement" covering all sectors of the boundary.
The Defence Minister, AK Antony, has, on the other hand, informed the Lo Sabha that the government has earmarked a sum of Rs 912 crores for the phase-wise construction of 27 road links in the border areas along the India-China border. Responding to a question by Paras Nath Yadav and five other MPs, the Defence Minister said that the 27 road links total 608 kilmoetres.
And the areas along the India-China border are in the States of Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. Antony added that the entire project was estimated to cost Rs 912 crores. The project, he informed the House, is expected to be completed by the year 2012-13.
In his reply to a question by Congress MP from Jammu region, Chaudhary Lal Singh, AK Antony said that he government had approved a project to construct 572 meters long cable stayed bridge at Kilometer 14.74 on Dunera-Darban -Basohli-Bani-Bhaderwah road in the Jammu region at an approximate cost of Rs 70 crores. Tender documents for the bridge, based on the feasibility study, have been completed.
Chaudhary Lal Singh was also informed that work on the bridge is planned to be completed by December 2008. The Defence Minister said that a sum of Rs 39 lakhs had been spent on feasibility study of the beidge till 2005-2006. Antony told Chaudhary Lal Singh that Rs 63.83 lakhs had ben earmarked for the bridge during 2006-2007.
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