CHINESE STOP TOILET BUILDING ALONG LADAKH LAC

While the focus is on IndiaChina standoff in Bhutan, the dragon continues to indulge in unwarranted interference in the villages along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the Ladakh region. The Chinese have even objected to the Chota Kailash Yatra being undertaken by 60-odd people to the Demchok area—which is the main trouble area between the two sides. An inhospitable cold desert and high altitude Ladakh region has a 225-km-long Line of Control (LoC) and 955-km-long LAC that includes some portion of the international border and 122-km-long Actual Ground Position Line (AGPL) with China. According to Leh’s deputy commissioner, Prasanna Ramaswamy G., there is interference by the Chinese troops in “scattered areas” along the LAC. The villages are dotted along the LAC, an undemarcated boundary between India and China. They have remained undeveloped because of continuous interference by the Chinese troops. There is virtually no development worth the name in four villages along the LAC— Demchok, Kouyal, Tsaga and Hanel—in the Nyoma constituency. The Chinese troops even object to the construction of roads, toilets, schools, medical centres and other infrastructural projects that are being undertaken by the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council (LAHDC) in Leh under the MGNREGA scheme. When contacted, Thupstan Wangchuk, the elected twotime councillor of Nyoma Council constituency, told The Sunday Guardian that the civic body was not able to carry out activities smoothly because of China’s direct interference. “On several occasions, we had to stop development projects in the middle as Indian Army personnel asked us to abandon these following Chinese interference.” Wangchuk says that massive development has been taking place on the other side of LAC. China has constructed helipads, metalled roads and large buildings which include well-furnished houses.