Explained: Where are Hot Springs and Gogra Post? What are their strategic significance?
What are PP15 and 17A?
Along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) between India in China, Indian Army has been given certain locations that its troops have to access to patrol the area under its control. These points are known as patrolling points, or PPs, and are decided by the China Study Group (CSG).
CSG was set-up in 1976, when Indira Gandhi was the prime minister, and is the apex decision-making body on China.
Barring certain areas, like Depsang Plains, these patrolling points are on the LAC, and troops access these points to assert their control over the territory. It is an important exercise since the boundary between India and China is not yet officially demarcated.
PP15 and PP17A are two of the 65 patrolling points in Ladakh along the LAC. (Some of these 65 also have an additional Alpha PPs, which are further ahead from the original PPs. So PP17A is different from, but close to, PP17.)
China, according to the source, informed India that it should be “happy” with what has been achieved regarding the disengagement in the Pangong Tso area.
indianexpress.com