Article Posted on : - Dec 04, 2012

NEW DELHI (PTI): The Indian Government is aware of the Chinese activities along the borders and has taken necessary steps to secure the desired national security objectives, the Defence Ministry has told the Lok Sabha.

In a written reply to a question in the House, Defence Minister A K Antony said Monday, "Government is aware of the activities of China along the border and is fully seized of the security imperatives of the country."

The threat perception is reviewed from time to time including the need for developing requisite infrastructure in the border areas, he added.

On the steps taken by the Ministry in this regards, the Minister said, "Necessary steps, as required, have been initiated through development of infrastructure as well as operational capabilities of the armed forces to secure the desired national security objectives."

Replying to a query on setting up strategic rail links in the country, Antony said a Comprehensive Capability Development Plan (CCDP) has been drawn by the Services, based on inputs from their operational commands.

"CCDP pertaining to strategic railway lines, including those in Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand and North East states, has been drawn up by the Services, based on the inputs from operational command and validated from an operational and logistics perspective," he said.

On status of the project, the Minister said that out of the 14 lines, railways have completed survey for 10.

"Survey for three lines is in progress and for one it is yet to start. Railways have expressed inability to fund these highly capital intensive lines in view of huge throw-forward of ongoing sanctioned projects and limited availability of resources," Antony said.

In reply to a question on impact of delay in defence projects, the Defence Minister said that DRDO has written a letter to concerned stakeholders in the Ministry in October 2012 regarding likely delay in systems developed by it, including armaments.

"This delay is likely in case the platforms, on which these systems are based, are changed. The delay would be in both ongoing projects (which are in fairly advanced stage) as well as in case of systems where development work has been completed and orders have been placed by stakeholders on production agencies," he said.