Up against rapidly modernizing Chinese military infrastructure along its northern border, India has decided to completely revamp its border posts at heights above 14,000-15,000 feet, using know-how from Scandinavian countries.

The aim is to improve the conditions in which soldiers live in these high altitudes. The decision was taken after a military survey revealed that poor living conditions were adversely impacting the morale and combat preparedness of soldiers manning these posts.

The survey itself was prompted by former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran’s report on improving infrastructure along the China border, in which he contrasted the sad state of affairs on the Indian side with that on the Chinese side.

The Defence Ministry has sanctioned Rs 250 crore for a pilot project to revamp 20 posts by next year. Six of these are in the eastern sector; the rest along the northern and middle sectors. Some posts on the Indo-Pak Line of Control have also been chosen for revamp, sources said.

The second phase of the project will be put before the Cabinet Committee on Security for approval soon. The Ministry plans to upgrade all posts by 2014, at a cost of Rs 3,000 crore.

The revamped posts, designed for a platoon strength of about 40 soldiers, will have a captive power supply facility, central heating, and a sewage and waste disposal mechanism. They will have kitchens and round-the-clock water supply, which will be a vast improvement over the current situation.

The Army survey showed that most soldiers manning these posts were underweight, and lacking in motivation as a result of their poor living conditions. “Compared to the Chinese side, which has state-of-the-art facilities in its posts, the Indian soldiers were demotivated because of the primitive conditions in which they were living at such high altitudes,” said a top official involved with the process.

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