Imp update: The first train carrying 1600 workers from Jharkhand to work on Border Roads Organisation (BRO) projects in Ladakh (roads, bridges, culverts) along the China frontier have reached Udhampur this morning and are now on their way in a huge convoy to Leh and beyond.
This is the signalling that was required. No matter what the Chinese objections, India is not slowing down any of the projects it has decided to undertake along the Himalayan frontier, be it in Ladakh, Uttarkhand, Sikkim or Arunachal Pradesh.
The BRO workers often neglected in the past, are no longer ignored. They get all facilities in high altitude areas--snow clothing, proper shelters, transportation to and from the temorary residences, ration at some places and evacuation by air to Chandigarh for medical emergency
As detailed earlier, overall BRO Budget between 2009 to 2014-15 generally remained stagnant at around Rs 4000 Cr. It has increased in last couple of years.: ₹ 5400 Cr in 2018; ₹8000 Cr in 2019-20; it is likely to cross ₹10000 Cr in 2020-21.
BRO is constructing 61 India-China Border Roads (ICBRs) with total length of 3346 Km (across the Himalayan frontier). Out of these, 75% road length is black top and over 99% is trafficable. Only 40 Km is yet to be connected.
So if you hear of increasing standoffs happening around the China border, it is because India's infrastructure work in border areas has picked up pace in recent years.
As usual, the moment the BRO had announced special train to take these workers, politics had begun. The Jharkhand govt tried to raise objections but as the letter below shows, BRO’s clarifications left the naysayers with nothing to complain about. 
