Work on strategically important Chushul-Dungti-Fukche-Demchok road in Ladakh has begun: Jaishankar

New Delhi, Feb 8 (PTI) India has focused on a rapid development of infrastructure along the northern borders with China for obvious "strategic reasons", External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar said on Wednesday amid the continuing 33-month border row in eastern Ladakh.

The minister told a group of reporters that the work on the strategically important Chushul-Dungti-Fukche-Demchok road, spanning 135 kilometres in the Ladakh region, began last month.

Jaishankar pointed out that 16 key passes required to maintain troops along the border with China have been opened in a record time and much ahead of the previous years, resulting in the saving of enormous funds in terms of the air sustenance of cut-off areas.