The blacktopped road, designed to take on heavy transport vehicles, has come up right next to the LAC close to India’s Gogra post, in an area that satellite images suggest hold valuable natural resources like gold. Completed in barely three weeks, the road is just under four kilometres long and connects to a larger network that China has built along the LAC for the past few years

by Manu Pubby

New Delhi: As the standoff with Indian troops was underway in Eastern Ladakh since early May, China constructed a new permanent road along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) that gives it access to a mountain area believed to be rich in natural deposits.

The blacktopped road, designed to take on heavy transport vehicles, has come up right next to the LAC close to India’s Gogra post, in an area that satellite images suggest hold valuable natural resources like gold.

Completed in barely three weeks, the road is just under four kilometres long and connects to a larger network that China has built along the LAC for the past few years. Satellite images show that less than 10 km away on the same road, the Chinese side has deployed heavy artillery and an armoured unit.

Sources said that while a semi permanent track was present in the area, the Chinese side constructed two bridges and the blacktopped road at breakneck speed over the past weeks. While the road skirts along the LAC, it can be used to quickly move in vehicles and personnel to the resource rich mountain that lies on the Indian side of the LAC.

While the Indian side has bolstered defences at the Gogra post, there is no equivalent road infrastructure for access to the deposit rich area. Satellite Imagery expert Colonel Vinayak Bhat (Retd) believes that the mountain could contain gold deposits. His satellite imagery based analysis suggests that a larger area close to the what he terms as `gold mountain’ could also hold valuable natural resources.

Besides the road near Gogra, the Chinese side has also built defences in the form of bunkers in the Finger 4 area along the Pangong Tso lake. This area has always been claimed by China but till now was being patrolled by both sides. The new defences suggest that China seeks to retain physical control. Talks continue between both sides to resolve the standoff that has entered its 26th day but there has been no improvement on the ground as thousands of troops remain deployed in Galwan valley and Pangong Tso lake.