New Delhi, Jan. 31 :     The Chinese People's Liberation Army has built a permanent road network and set up bunkers over five square kilometres within the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control in Ladakh's Aksai Chin area. Air reconnaissance near Trijunction, a strategic location in Aksai Chin, revealed that the Red Army has constructed a rectangular, five sq. km network of metalled roads from the LAC leading to grid references 5459 and 5495. These are located behind a point called ''K'' Hill, northeast of Trijunction near the Chip Chap river. What has set off alarm bells is that several bunkers have also been spotted. ''The situation can no longer be described as alarming but dangerous,'' an army official said. The operation is similar to the mid-Eighties incursion in the Northeast when the Chinese entered Indian territory in the Tawang sector of Arunachal Pradesh and occupied the Sum-Dorung Chu yak-grazing pastures during winter. China continues to occupy the land. Officials believe that the network of metalled roads was built between June and August, 1999, during and just after the Kargil war. Defence security agencies came to know of it only about a week ago though preliminary reports had mentioned ''sound of explosions'' from the LAC, indicating dynamite blasts for road-building. The last foray in the area occurred last week. The Telegraph reported on July 4 last year how the Red Army had ''violated'' the LAC barely 500 km from the Kargil front. On July 1, a strong contingent of Chinese troops, along with a convoy of six heavy, medium and light armoured vehicles, stepped into the Trijunction and Trig Heights areas, stayed on for a few hours and then retreated to their own territory. Reports with the government reveal that between January and July last year, the PLA made 72 incursions, not just in Aksai Chin but also in areas in Arunachal, and stayed on for up to two hours and, in some cases, even more. These reports have been confirmed by transcripts of a conversation - intercepted by Indian intelligence - between Chinese president Jiang Zemin and another head of state. Jiang reportedly disclosed that his army had breached the LAC to test India's defence readiness. Apart from the roads, the Red Army has also built an elaborate network of mule tracks from within Chinese territory leading up to the LAC. Army officials here believe this has been done to supply material for road construction as well as arms and ammunition to the PLA personnel stationed on the Indian side of the LAC. Air reconnaissance discovered that the PLA has deployed a battalion - around 900 soldiers - in the region. These men have been strategically spread over 10 well-armed defence posts. The soldiers are regularly relieved by fresh men. India has a strength of only two companies - one from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police and the other from the Ladakh Scouts - which are posted several kilometres away from the encroached area. After coming to know of the incursions, the army airlifted a one-tonner vehicle and a light jeep, which are not enough to act even as effective deterrent. The army believes that its newly created 14 Corps for Kargil and Ladakh and a separate Unified Headquarters for areas north of the Zoji La are enough to scare the Pakistanis and the Chinese from attempting to enter Indian territory. But, as one official said: ''What is lacking is the actual presence of troops close to the LAC both in the western and eastern sectors.''