Post-Doklam, India Needs To Concentrate On Improving Links To And Within North-East India

It has been nearly eight weeks since the standoff between India and China at Doklam on the China-Bhutan-India tri-junction was resolved on 28 August with troops of both the countries pulling back from the eyeball-to-eyeball position. The standoff was sparked by China’s attempts to construct a road across the Doklam plateau that would have effectively pushed the trijunction 10 kilometres south and brought the strategic and vulnerable Siliguri corridor (also called the chicken’s neck corridor) within range of China’s long range field guns.

Though the crisis was resolved, thanks to India’s firm stand and New Delhi’s strong BATNA (Best Alternative To Negotiated Agreement) resolve-that India would not shy away from a limited border skirmish if negotiations with China failed-the standoff offered an important lesson for India: that the present overwhelming dependence on the Siliguri corridor should be reduced. And also that communication links within the Northeast has to be improved on an urgent basis.

The episode was not the first, and won’t be the last either, of China trying to expand territorially and surreptitiously changing borders.

China’s constant quest is to occupy disputed territories, or mark new territories with already settled borders as disputed territories, and present a fait accompli. India has already realised that China is the only major power that is expansionist and our border troops have to be kept on constant alert to foil China’s periodic attempts to sneak in and occupy Indian territory. China knows that India’s Achilles heel is the Siliguri corridor and, thus, it will continue to play on this vulnerability.

It is, thus, imperative, for India to develop alternative routes of communication between the Northeast and the rest of the country. One such is the ambitious Kaladan Multi Modal Transit transport Project. This mega project envisages transporting goods from Kolkata to Sittwe port in Myanmar, then by river from Sittwe to Paletwa via the Kaladan river and ultimately from Paletwa to Mizoram by road.

The 540 km sea route from Kolkata to Sittwe is operational, and the Sittwe to Paletwa river route was opened in June this year. But the contract for the construction of the India-funded 110 km road from Paletwa to Zorinpui in Mizoram on the Indo-Myanmar border was awarded only four months ago due to bureaucratic hurdles that New Delhi did not address with alacrity. The 90 km route from Zorinpui to Saiha within Mizoram is yet to be completed, even though the entire project was scheduled to be operational three years ago! From Saiha, the route will be linked to National Highway (NH) 2 to Manipur, Nagaland and then to Upper Assam and also to NH 6 through Aizawl and then to Shillong (Meghalaya) and Guwahati (Assam).

Then there is the Asian Highway 1 project that will run from Kolkata to Petrapole (on the Indo-Bangladesh border) and travel through Jessore, Faridpur, Dhaka and Sylhet in Bangladesh to re-enter India at Tamabil in Meghalaya. From Tamabil, the Asian Highway 1 runs through Shillong (Meghalaya) and Assam through Nagaland to enter Kohima and then cross over to Myanmar through Moreh (on the Indo-Myanmar border) to travel through Myanmar and then to Thailand.

The Asian Highway 2 runs through north India, enters Nepal and travels through the length of Nepal to re-enter India near Siliguri and then enter Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, this Asian Highway 2 travels through Rongpur, Tangail and Joydebpur to Dhaka and merges with Asian Highway 1 to go to Sylhet and re-enter India through Tamabil and exit India again at Moreh to enter Myanmar and then go to Thailand and beyond.

Many portions of the trilateral highway project (India-Myanmar-Thailand) that was proposed 15 years ago is still under construction and just two months ago, New Delhi allocated 256 million US dollars to upgrade the 1360 km highway from Mae Sot in Thailand to Moreh in India. New Delhi has been unable to get Myanmar to execute the construction projects in that country at a faster pace. Similarly, many portions of the Asian Highways 1 and 2 within India are incomplete or are yet to be upgraded.

It is very important for India to expedite works on these projects and complete them as soon as possible to reduce the dependence on the vulnerable Siliguri corridor. It is also important for New Delhi to prevail on Myanmar and Bangladesh to quicken the pace of construction of the portions of Asian Highways 1 and 2 and the trilateral highway that fall within their countries. India also has to ensure seamless transportation of goods through roads, rivers and seas through bilateral and multilateral agreements to ensure speedy passage of goods. Bureaucratic and procedural bottlenecks at the international borders also have to be eliminated.

mAll this is necessary to ensure that the alternative routes to Northeast India from the rest of the country bypassing the chicken’s neck corridor become operational as soon as possible. And within the northeast, too, the state of most national and state highways and link roads are pathetic. Take the case of National Highway 27 that starts at Porbandar (Gujarat) and ends at Silchar (Assam). Major parts of the highway in Assam are is a state of utter disrepair. In fact, as soon as this highway enters Assam at Srirampur, its condition deteriorates drastically. The 80 km stretch till Bongaigaon (Assam) takes two hours. This deplorable condition of this particular stretch of the highway has remained the same for the past 14 years!

There are many other national and state highways in the Northeastern states that beggar description. This is actually an issue of national importance that has to be addressed urgently. Infrastructure development is a must not only for faster transportation of goods, and troops as well as military hardware, between the Northeast and the rest of India, but also to boost trade and commerce, attract investments and boost the economy of the region. China has always fished in troubled Indian waters and has aided insurgency and fueled unrest in Northeast India. Economic development of the northeast will deny China the fertile ground it now finds in that restive part of the country to play its dirty games in. New Delhi, thus, has its task cut out for it. And it needs to act fast.