<p>India’s efforts totake its railway network close to China border is caught up in red tape for the last two years while China has taken its railway link to Tibet.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Defence Minister A K Antony on Tuesday decided to approach the Planning Commission to declare 14 railway lines close to the Sino-Indian border as “strategic” so that survey and construction could be taken up immediately.These 14 lines – down from the original list of 28 – were declared strategic by the Defence Ministry way back in 2010 and high-level panels were set up to accelerate the construction. The Railway Ministry was asked to undertake the survey in August 2010 for assessing technical feasibility and cost.<br /><br />Survey work was undertaken in three strategic railway lines in the North East – 248-km North Lakhimpur-Along-Silapathar line; 140-km Missamari-Tawang line and 95-km Murkongselek-Pasighat-Rupai line. Antony on Tuesday also approved recruiting more military engineers for speeding up infrastructure development and purchasing equipment for Special Forces directly through a high-level panel, headed by the Army vice-chief.An empowered committee headed by Defence Secretary has been set up to process the infrastructure development projects in the North East and monitor the progress. <br /><br />The Defence Minister reviewed the Army procurement and infrastructure development along with the top officials from the Defence Ministry and Army, after Army Chief Gen V K Singh disclosed the poor preparedness level of the Army in his ‘secret’ letter to the Prime Minister.<br /><br />Antony sanctioned raising one regiment of Brahmos supersonic missile and expressed satisfaction on the progress made so far in acquisition of 155 mm/39 calibre ultra light weight howitzer from the USA. A panel will be created to look into Army's need of having a full-fledged aviation wing rather than depending on the Indian Air Force (IAF) for helicopter support.</p>
<p>India’s efforts totake its railway network close to China border is caught up in red tape for the last two years while China has taken its railway link to Tibet.<br /><br /></p>.<p>Defence Minister A K Antony on Tuesday decided to approach the Planning Commission to declare 14 railway lines close to the Sino-Indian border as “strategic” so that survey and construction could be taken up immediately.These 14 lines – down from the original list of 28 – were declared strategic by the Defence Ministry way back in 2010 and high-level panels were set up to accelerate the construction. The Railway Ministry was asked to undertake the survey in August 2010 for assessing technical feasibility and cost.<br /><br />Survey work was undertaken in three strategic railway lines in the North East – 248-km North Lakhimpur-Along-Silapathar line; 140-km Missamari-Tawang line and 95-km Murkongselek-Pasighat-Rupai line. Antony on Tuesday also approved recruiting more military engineers for speeding up infrastructure development and purchasing equipment for Special Forces directly through a high-level panel, headed by the Army vice-chief.An empowered committee headed by Defence Secretary has been set up to process the infrastructure development projects in the North East and monitor the progress. <br /><br />The Defence Minister reviewed the Army procurement and infrastructure development along with the top officials from the Defence Ministry and Army, after Army Chief Gen V K Singh disclosed the poor preparedness level of the Army in his ‘secret’ letter to the Prime Minister.<br /><br />Antony sanctioned raising one regiment of Brahmos supersonic missile and expressed satisfaction on the progress made so far in acquisition of 155 mm/39 calibre ultra light weight howitzer from the USA. A panel will be created to look into Army's need of having a full-fledged aviation wing rather than depending on the Indian Air Force (IAF) for helicopter support.</p>
