Amid tensions with China, Wildlife board greenlights 25 military projects in Ladakh

New Delhi: With no troop reduction from eastern Ladakh in sight due to the simmering India-China border tension, the Defence Ministry is set to create a large number of military establishments at Ladakh including a forward aviation base and missile storage centres, besides housing an artillery regiment.

In addition, the ministry will improve its road links to Daulat Beg Oldie —India’s highest airstrip close to the Karakoram range—set up multiple ammunition storage facilities and create a dedicated base for helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles.

All of them are part of the 25 military infrastructure projects in Ladakh that received a nod from the National Board of Wildlife in its last meeting held in June. The board considered 33 defence projects and cleared almost all of them with certain conditions.

Taken together, the military units at Ladakh would require over 300 hectare of land, which will come from Karakoram (Nubra-Shyok) Wildlife Sanctuary and Changthang High Altitude Cold Desert Wildlife Sanctuary, according to the minutes of the NBWL meeting.

The approval includes construction and upgradation of over 10 km of road connecting DBO with a border personnel meeting hub where troops from India and China meet to sort out the disputes for maintaining peace and tranquillity along the Line of Actual Control.

Other key projects include a forward aviation base at Shyok (that needs 47.6 ha of land); housing an army regiment at Nidder (40.468 ha); Artillery Regiment field hospital at Bogdang (33.4 ha) and an artillery regiment at Skampuk (21.2 ha).

There will also be a short-range surface to air missile storage near Leh (25.1 ha) and a dedicated site (8 ha) to hold the helicopters and operate the UAVs at Partapur, besides multiple facilities to house the troops and engineers.

In a separate decision, the wildlife board has suggested inclusion of the Indian Army for the conservation of endangered species like snow leopard, great Indian bustard and chiru (Tibetan antelope). While nearly 50% of the great Indian bustard is found near the field firing range at Pokhran, snow leopards and chiru are commonly seen in Ladakh.