New Delhi: The Indian government has assigned standard names for 27 places and geographical features in Arunachal Pradesh located along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) amid the long-standing boundary dispute with China.
The move is aimed at reinforcing India’s absolute sovereign and legal jurisdiction over these territories, countering China’s efforts to rename dozens of locations in our northeastern state in recent years,
Among the places included in the list is Longju, a border village which has been controlled by China since 1959 but falls within the Indian claim line.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said in a statement that the Indian government, in consultation with the Arunachal Pradesh government, “identified a total of 27 places or features in Arunachal Pradesh, by standard place and feature names on the official maps of Survey of India (SoI)”.
“Identifying them formally on the Survey of India map of Arunachal Pradesh is aimed at facilitating their accurate recognition and better awareness among the public at large,” the statement said.
The locations identified on the Survey of India map include 21 land areas, four passes, a lake, and a monument.
The land locations are — Longju, Maja, Bisa, Bara Kundun, Chhota Kundun, Dhan Bari, Pritnagar, Buddhamandir, Jairampur, Teritnagar, Ramnagar, Jaswant Garh, Sagar, Padma, Jyotinagar, Baisakhi, Chhota Ropuk, Bara Ropuk, Shivaji Nagar, Sunpura, and Kamlang Nagar.
The passes are Dzo La, Riza La, Pukur La and Thag La, besides the Sambho Sarovar lake and Sher-e-Thapa Memorial.
China has repeatedly renamed a number of places in Arunachal Pradesh, which it refers to as ‘South Tibet’.
India has consistently rejected such actions, and maintained that Arunachal Pradesh is an integral and inalienable part of the country and that unilateral changes in nomenclature neither alter the ground reality nor affect India’s sovereignty.
According to MHA, the naming exercise follows established procedures for geographical nomenclature and forms part of a broader effort to maintain accurate and authoritative national cartographic records. The government aims to ensure that official maps, gazettes and administrative documents reflect uniform and legally recognised nomenclature.
The updated Survey of India maps will serve as the official reference for governance, planning and public use while also preserving locally recognised place names through the formal mapping process, MHA said.
