India will find facts in China's objections to road construction in Ladakh: Raju

New Delhi, Dec 1 (ANI): Minister of State for Defence Pallam Raju today said India would find out the reasons behind China's objection to the road construction in the Ladakh region of Kashmir.

In a confrontational act on Monday, China had objected to road construction in Demchok near the Line of Actual Control in the Ladakh region of Kashmir.

Work has been stopped on the road project being built under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).

The eight-kilometer stretch of road that was being constructed to improve road connectivity, was providing employment to local residents.

Demchok village is the last inhabited area before the Line of Actual Control near the Chinese border.

"We will find out the facts of the matter but I think some of these things happen if there is difference in perception of the border. I am guessing that that must be the reason but we will check into in to the matter," Raju said in a written reply in Parliament.

The Minister of State for Defence also added that the strengthening and procuring of arms by China must not bother India.

"See, I think we don't need to be unnecessarily alarmed, as a regional power they will strengthen their infrastructure, they will procure their arms, and we are doing what we have to do for strengthening what is our land. We don't have to be unnecessarily worried about what other countries are doing as far our programmes are going on smoothly, we are doing adequately to strengthen ourselves," he said.

India has a border dispute with China and despite several rounds of talks, the issue is still pending.

India disagrees with China's claims stating that apart from occupying 90,000 sq km of land on the eastern side of the border; China has also occupied 38,000 sq km of territory in Aksai Chin plateau in the western Himalayas.

On the issue of army officials allegedly involved in a land scam in eastern Siliguri, Raju said the concerned authorities have been asked to probe the matter.

"Whenever there is an irregularity in any procedure or any of the functioning, the concerned service looks into the matter and it takes appropriate steps. The ministry had directed the service, which is army in this case, to look into the matter and they will take appropriate action," he said. (ANI)