Author: Agencies
Publication: The Times of India
Date: January 11, 2010
URL: http://mobiletoi.timesofindia.com/mobile.aspx?article=yes&pageid=1§id=edid=&edlabel=TOIM&mydateHid=11-01-2010&pubname=Times+of+India+-+Mumbai&edname=&articleid=Ar00104&publabel=TOI
The area along the line of actual control
(LAC) with China has "shrunk'' over the years and India has lost "substantial''
tracts of land in the past two decades, says an official report. At a recent
meeting held in Leh, attended by officials from the J&K government, the
ministry of home affairs and the Army, everyone agreed that no proper mapping
of the area had been done and different agencies had different maps for it.
The meeting was chaired by Commissioner (Leh) A K Sahu and attended by Brigadier-General
Staff of 14 Corps Brig Sarat Chand and Colonel Inderjit Singh, among others.
All of them said, "It should be accepted
that we have withdrawn from the LAC and our area has shrunk. The process is
slow but we have lost a substantial amount of land over the past 20-25 years.''
The participants also said "there was a lack of institutional memory
in various agencies as well as a clear policy on this issue, which in the
long run, has resulted in India losing its territory to China''.
The meeting was called to ensure that proper
protection is expended to nomads who take their cattle to the Dokbug area
in Nyoma sector every winter for grazing. The Chinese apparently do not take
kindly to these people. In fact, in 2008, China's People's Liberation Army
(PLA) had damaged the nomads' tents and reportedly threatened them to vacate
the land.
