Even as China is speedily ramping up military infrastructure on its side, India seems to be taking baby steps to counter the swift strides of the ‘dragon’ near the strategically vital Demchok area of southeastern Ladakh in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Union Government has imposed a ban on any kind of construction in Demchok by locals. Even the Leh administration cannot go ahead with any construction activity here without getting it approved from the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of External Affairs.

The move has caused great resentment among local residents, who claim that the government has been issuing them orders at will but it has not been able to do anything about the constructions being carried out by China in Demchok - one of the disputed points in eastern Ladakh.

“When China is steadily building infrastructure on its side, there is no point in imposing restrictions on us,” says Gurmet Dorje, who hails from the area and is an elected councillor in the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council. Dorje claims he has send several written petitions to the Centre on this matter but there has been no response.

Demchok, which is in Nyoma block in Ladakh, has a population of 7,000. The Line of Actual Control runs here. In December 2009, China had lodged its protest with India regarding construction of a road in Demchok. According to locals, China is building huge blue-roofed all-weather structures here that can house up to 100-125 soldiers with their supplies during winter months. The Tribune has obtained pictures of Chinese soldiers holding red-coloured banners to warn local residents in the area. “This is the Line of Actual Control, you are on Chinese Territory,” read the banners. “We are often threatened by the Chinese while our government doesn’t even allow nomads of local Changpa tribe to graze their sheep along the LAC,” says Dorje. “We’ll have to relocate if the government is unable to solve our problems,” he adds.