Article Posted on : - Sep 17, 2009

A File Photo

NEW DELHI (PTI): The Indian Army has launched a massive effort at strengthening forward posts along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China, which they described as "routine."

The effort, aimed at operational alertness and kick-started this week, comes at this time annually just before the weather gets worse during winters.

"Nothing much should be attached to this effort, which is carried out annually for maintenance of the forward posts before the weather makes it impossible. This is a matter of routine," Army sources said here Wednesday evening.

The effort will go on for a month and for the purpose, the Army has employed about half of its strength posted along the 4,057-km-long LAC in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh in active duty, they said.

This maintenance effort comes at a time when there have been reports of incursions by Chinese troops in Chumar region of Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir where they brought in a military helicopter to air-drop food cans and painted Mandarin letters on some of the stones to lay claim to the territory.

These incursions, the Army had said, were "nothing unusual" due to differing perceptions of LAC on both sides.

Other media reports of Chinese fighter jets violating Indian airspace and firing at ITBP jawans in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh in the last three months have been denied by the government.