Forty Indian pilgrims, bound for the Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage will, on Monday, cross over from the Nathu La pass that links Sikkim and Tibet, inaugurating a new route that expands connectivity between the two countries.
The first of 50 pilgrims out of an annual quota of 250 were to make the maiden journey from Indian to China along the Nathu La route.
However, 10 of the aspirants failed to clear the stringent medical tests, held in Sikkim, that pilgrims have to undertake in order to endure the arduous journey.
China’s Ambassador to India Le Yucheng, told a group of visiting Indian journalists that unlike the past when travellers had to undertake a difficult trek, the visitors will now be taken by bus to the pilgrimage sight—a distance of 1500 km, which will be covered in two days. The establishment of the new route is the result of the “consensus” reached between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the former’s visit to India in September 2014.
“We left no stone unturned to make this route possible,” Mr. Le observed. A brand new hotel has come up to accommodate the pilgrims.
The charges, subsidised by Beijing and the Chinese embassy in New Delhi have been kept to the minimum. Tour guides and even batches of cooks are accompanying the travellers, who will each be handed over a backpack and a blanket by the local Tibetan government. Patches of road along the route, which had been damaged, have also been repaired.
Border trade between the two countries through the Nathu La pass is booming, the Ambassador said. In the shops of Yadong, the Chumbi valley town, a mere 31 km from Nathu La, Indian products ranging from India manufactured Nescafe coffee, candies, and posters of Shahrukh Khan and Aishwarya Rai are freely available. “Gangtok is merely 54 km from Nathu La and I discussed with the Chief Minister, the possibility of Chinese investments in the State and as well as increasing the flow of tourists into the state,” Mr. Le said.
The Ambassador did not rule out the possibility of expanding the Nathu La route as an important economic artery between India and China, supplementing the ambitious Bangladesh-China-India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor.
China’s ambitious Qinghai-Tibet railway, which is part of an elaborate railway system which has been connected to Europe, has already reached Xigatse, not too far from the Indian border. Chinese officials have been quoted as saying that this rail track can be extended to Nepal, and onwards to Patna, where it can be hooked to the Indian railway system.
