Cabinet nod to development plan for villages along China border, 7 more ITBP battalions

File image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi chairing a Union Cabinet meeting. (Image: PIB)

The cabinet on February 15 approved a plan to develop villages bordering China in the states of Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and the Union Territory of Ladakh, with thrust on building roads.

To beef up security along the Chinese frontier, the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS), which is chaired by the Prime Minister, has approved the raising of seven more battalions of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

The two decisions come days after reports emerged of China planning to construct a rail line to connect Tibet and Xinjiang. The line will run through the disputed Aksai Chin region.

The so-called Vibrant Villages Programme will have an outlay of Rs 4,800 crore over a four-year period from 2022-23 to 2025-26, Union Minister Anurag Thakur said at a briefing.

Of this pool of money, Rs 2,500 crore will purely be for the construction of roads.

The government said in a statement that the programme would help in the comprehensive development of villages along the northern border of India.

"This will help in encouraging people to stay in their native locations in border areas and reversing the outmigration from these villages adding to improved security of the border," the government said.

Thakur said the Vibrant Villages Programme would be centrally sponsored scheme and will focus on 663 villages in the first phase.

In a separate decision on February 15, CCS approved the raising of seven additional battalions and a sector headquarter of ITBP by 2025-26 for the manning of 47 border outposts and 12 staging camps.

A sum of Rs 1,808 crore would be spent on the creation of office and residential buildings, land acquisition, and arms and ammunition, Thakur said.

In terms of the recurring expenditure for salaries and rations, the CCS’s decision will cost the Centre Rs 963 crore a year.