Itanagar: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday reiterated that India wants peace with everyone and no one can encroach on “even an inch of the country’s land”, asserting that “there can be no compromise with the respect of our army and borders”.
“India wants peace with everyone but no one will be able to encroach on even an inch of our country’s land, and it is the policy of the government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi that there can be no compromise with the respect of our army and borders,” he said while launching the Centre’s “Vibrant Villages Programme” at Kibithoo – a border village in Arunachal Pradesh, on the Indo-China border.
“The government under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi considers the security of the borders as the security of the nation and therefore, infrastructure on the border is the priority of PM Modi,” Shah said.
During the period from 2014 to 2023, he said, 547 km of border fencing has been completed, more than 1100 kms of border roads constructed, 1057 kms of floodlighting done, and 468 Border Observation Posts (BOPs) set up.Â
He remarked that the work on border infrastructure, which the opposition party could not do in 12 terms of their government, has been done by Prime Minister Modi in only two terms and this shows the priority of the Modi government towards border security.
The Union Home Minister said that for the development of Arunachal Pradesh, all the villages within 5 km radius of the international border have been connected with all-weather roads.
He informed that the construction of 1859-km-long Arunachal Frontier Highway has started, and in the last few years, 252 habitations have been connected by constructing 2500 km of roads in the border areas.
He said that the central government has given Rs 44000 crore to the Arunachal government for the development of infrastructure.Â
China objects Shah’s visit
China opposed the visit by Shah to Arunachal Pradesh and viewed his activities in the area as violating Beijing’s territorial sovereignty, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson told a news briefing earlier on Monday.
“Zangnan (Beijing refers to Arunachal as Zangnan) is China’s territory,” spokesperson Wang Wenbin said in response to a question on the visit by Home Minister Amit Shah.
“The Indian official’s visit to Zangnan violates China’s territorial sovereignty, and is not conducive to the peace and tranquility of the border situation.”
