Economy slowdown hits strategic rail lines' construction

Economic downturn has hit the infrastructure-building along the Line-of-Actual Control (LAC) as the Finance Ministry has expressed its inability to spare Rs. 80,000 crore to construct six strategic railway lines in the regions bordering rising China.

Even as China had laid down 10,000 km long rail network in the adjacent Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), the “commercially non-viable” yet strategically important railway lines on the Indian side are founding no takers in the Railway Ministry or the Finance Ministry.

The Indian Army had proposed construction of 14 strategic lines in the Ladakh and north-eastern regions of the country- six of these lines have been accorded top most priority by the Ministry of Defence to bulwark Indian defences. “Six of these lines in the mountainous terrain will entail cost of Rs. 80,000 crore. The Railway Ministry has shown inability to spare that kind of amount for these commercially non-viable links. The Finance Ministry has also said that it cannot spare this much amount at the moment,” sources said, adding the economic slowdown has made the Ministry of Finance to postpone commitment to the construction of rail network in the border areas.

The delay in moving forward on these construction projects can cause India dearly as China is moving at a feverish pace on this front. The infrastructure development in the TAR region along the 4,057 km long Indo-Chinese border has given the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) the capability to move around 4,50,000 soldiers to the border within 30 days that will mean three Chinese soldiers for one Indian soldier.

The proposed Indian railway lines are aimed at quick troop mobilization and logistics sustenance if the rivalry around the unresolved Indo-China border. The Indian Army’s last hopes are now pinned on the Planning Commission to implement these projects at the earliest. Most of these projects are located in the North-East, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

Some of the important railway projects in North East are Missamari (Assam) to Tawang (Arunachal Pradesh), North Lakhimpur (Assam) to Along (Arunachal Pradesh) and Murkongselek (Assam)-Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh). Tawang is strategically important to India and is one region in the North east claimed by the Chinese. Inclement weather in the region make it difficult to maintain supply routes.

In the north, the key rail projects are Jammu-Akhnoor-Poonch, Rishikesh-Karanprayag and Tanakpur-Bageshwar (Uttarakhand) besides others. The objective is to have all-weather connectivity and provide weapons, food and other essential items to forward posts.