Zee Media Bureau/Deepak Nagpal

New Delhi: In a bid to check repeated incursions by Chinese troops along the border, the Central government is working on an idea to provide “military training” to people living in areas close to border.

Reports said on Wednesday that the government plan aims to make citizens living along the China border to `act as a paramilitary force`. This, the Narendra Modi government believes, would help check incursions by troops of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA).

The NDA government`s policy is in sharp contrast to the UPA`s which had banned any kind of civilian movement along the border.

The latest move is part of Modi government`s plan to make border areas easily accessible to civilians and also develop infrastructure and roads there.

It is believed that the civilian population living along the China border has shifted upto 50 kilometres inside over the past few years due to lack of infrastructure and facilities.

The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has now mooted a plan to encourage villagers to settle along the China border in Arunachal Pradesh.

The MHA has already set in motion a plan to double the troop numbers along the border in Arunachal Pradesh.

The government plans to set up upto 54 new outposts of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) and take the troops number to 30,000.