Siliguri Corridor

SILIGURI CORRIDOR

What is Siliguri Corridor?

1. India’s North East is geographically isolated from the remainder of India and is connected to the mainland by a narrow strip of land called Siliguri  Corridor(Chicken’s neck).
2. It is about 200 km long and 60 km wide.At its narrowest ,it is just 17 km wide.
3. It is surrounded by Nepal from the north-west and Bangladesh to the south-east.The corridor is extremely important for India because it runs its rail and road networks towards the North East through it.This allows it to sustain the soldiers posted within the North East which may from an important piece of the puzzle should a conflict arise between India and China within the region.

Why Recently in News?

Recently,China has offered Bhutan a“package solution” to its boundary dispute.It may be seen as a revival of the 1996 proposal by China for a territory swap.

The deal would have benefited Bhutan by giving it the larger chunk of land,and resolving its tensions with China,but was a big worry for India ,as the Doklam swap would give the People’s Liberation Army(PLA) access to the strategically sensitive “chicken neck” of the Siliguri corridor.

CHINA REPEATED CLAIM:

1. China also repeated its claim on eastern boundary of Bhutan  at Sakteng.
2. China has made the claim over sakteng at an online meeting of the 58th Global Environment Facility(GEF) council,while unsuccessful objecting to the funding request to develop the Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary project in eastern Bhutan.
3. China claims that the boundary between China and Bhutan has disputed over the eastern,central and western sectors of Bhutan.
4. Since 1984, when China and Bhutan began talks, the areas of dispute have only included Pasamlung and Jakarlung valleys to the north(what China calls middle)area,and Doklam and other pasturelands to the west.
5. However, Bhutan competedly rejected the claim made by China by saying that Sakteng is an integral and sovereign territory of Bhutan.

How India would get affected ?

It was a big worry for India, as the Doklam swap would have given China access to the strategically sensitive “chicken neck ” of the Siliguri corridor.

If this area were to be taken control of by an advancing Chinese force,it would cut of the connectivity of the region to the mainland India (Centre), stop major supplies to the North-Eastern states and ultimately India could lose control of the whole region, parts of which is already claimed by China.

Written by: All Clear

Source : The Hindu,Wikipedia