Union Home Minister Amit Shah said on November 10 that 168 villages along the China border that did not have any connectivity yet would be connected by road and other forms of communication in the next one year. He said the country’s security would suffer if border villages were emptied out due to migration and the vibrant village programme (VVP) would ensure that all facilities and infrastructure reached there. He said the country could not be safe without development of border areas.
Mr. Shah was speaking at the 62nd Raising Day parade of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) in Dehradun on Friday. ITBP is the primary force deployed along the 3,488 km China border.
He said that recently seven battalions of the ITBP were sanctioned by the government and out of them, four battalions would be deployed shortly. The Home Minister said these seven battalions and one sector headquarters would be built at a cost of approximately ₹3,000 crore.
The Centre wanted the border villages to be treated as first villages not just geographically but also in terms of facilities, he said.
Vibrant village programme
“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has introduced the concept of vibrant village programme to provide best facilities to people living in the border villages so that their population is not just sustained but also increased,” Mr. Shah said.
He said that before 2014, the average spend on border infrastructure was ₹4,000 crore per year and in the past nine-and-a-half years, it had trebled to ₹12,340 crore on an average with money being spent on road, border outposts and infrastructure.
India and China are engaged in a stand-off at several locations in eastern Ladakh since April-May 2020. Twenty soldiers were killed in violent clashes with China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) at the Galwan Valley in eastern Ladakh on June 15, 2020.
Mr. Shah said whenever he heard of any news from India-China border, he was assured that not even an inch of land would be occupied as the ITBP was posted there.
He said a budgetary allocation of ₹4,800 crore had been made to create adequate infrastructural, health and educational facilities in 662 border villages of 19 districts under the vibrant village programme.
The ITBP could also be made the nodal agency for carrying out developmental work in the border villages, he said.
Mr. Shah said that among the many new initiatives taken on Friday, the Self Sustainable Energy Building (SSEB) was very special because built at an altitude of 17,000 feet in the cold desert this building would become a symbol of self-reliant India. He said this building was a unique Deepavali gift to the Himveers from the Prime Minister. He said when the outside temperature drops to 40-45 degrees below zero and even petrol or diesel could not be used, this building would keep the soldiers safe at a temperature of 18-19 degrees. He said Self Sustainable Energy Building was completed in just 2 months.
