Connecting the China border

The Indian Air Force (IAF) plans to take up the upgrading of Vijaynagar, an almost-inaccessible sliver of a plateau on the China border surrounded by forests on all sides. This advance landing ground (ALG), or a temporary airfield, was among the seven earmarked for modernisation eight years ago. Since then, six became functional but Vijaynagar became so in 2016. It is heartening that locals in this hinterland are lending a helping hand. The Arunachal Government did its bit by building 150 km of roads through dense forests to this ALG. This rare instance of civil-military synergy is a case for cheer in a theatre where infrastructure development has been perennially delayed, especially on the border with China.

These ALGs are purely for military use. While their strategic importance is indisputable, there are grounds to utilise the upgraded infrastructure for civilian use as well. Several airports in the country have become throbbing hubs of civilian travel such as Chandigarh, Goa or Pune that were once military bases. Now that the IAF has set its sights on making strips functional in places like Lahaul-Spiti and Ladakh that are tourism magnates but tough to access by road, there should be the possibility of dual use at some of them. The extension of civic infrastructure in areas where there has been none contributes to the cause of national security; a variation of the ‘hearts-and-minds’ programme undertaken by the security forces in similarly remote areas.   

It may be worthwhile to take a leaf out of China’s Tibet book in this regard. China has modernised six civilian airfields in Tibet to handle military operations. New Delhi, too, needs to convert makeshift strips with tourist potential into all-weather dual-purpose facilities. India has broken out of the siege mentality with the forward deployment of its military assets while observing the spirit of the 1996 and 2005 Sino-India agreements. The excessive cost of building facilities in remote areas has hampered modernisation of the upper Himalayas at the desired pace. Wherever feasible, dual use will distribute the infrastructure costs among several stakeholders to meet the pressure on government funds by competing demands.