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Mahesh

21/05/22 19:54 PM IST

India closely monitoring China's building of bridge near Pangong lake

In News 
  • The government has been monitoring closely "Beijing's building of a bridge" in border areas that have been under illegal occupation of China for around 60 years now and New Delhi is taking all necessary steps to ensure that its security interests are fully protected.
Pangong Tso 
  • Pangong Tso literally translates into a “conclave lake”. Pangong means conclave in Ladakhi and Tso means lake in Tibetan language.
  • Situated at over 14,000 feet, the Lake is about 135 km long.
  • It is formed from Tethys geosyncline.
  • The Karakoram Mountain range, which crosses Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and India, with heights of over 6,000 meters including K2, the world’s second highest peak, ends at the north bank of Pangong Tso.
  • Its southern bank too has high broken mountains sloping towards Spangur Lake in the south.
  • The lake’s water, while crystal clear, is brackish, making it undrinkable.
Issue 
  • On the north bank, there is a PLA garrison at Kurnak fort and on the south bank at Moldo, and the distance between the two is around 200 km.
  • The new bridge between the closest points on two banks, which is around 500 m, will bring down the movement time between the two sectors from around 12 hours to three or four hours.
  • This will significantly bring down the time for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to move troops and equipment between the two sectors.
  • The bridge is located around 25 km ahead of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).
Dispute 
  • The Line of Actual Control (LAC) – the line that separates Indian and Chinese troops since 1962 – generally runs along the land except for the width of Pangong Tso. Here, it runs through water.
  • Both sides have marked their areas announcing which side belongs to which country.
  • India controls about 45 km stretch of the Pangong Tso and China the rest.
Source-PIB 

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