New Delhi, July 27: Indian and Chinese patrols came face to face in long-disputed grazing grounds high in the Himalayas near the frontier in Uttarakhand this week, prompting chief minister Harish Rawat to call it "worrisome".

The Barahoti grazing grounds have been disputed at least since 1954, according to diplomatic notes exchanged between New Delhi and Beijing. Part of the reason is topographical, because of the difference in the heights of the ridgelines surrounding the grazing grounds. The ridgelines and the grounds are at heights of over 15,000 feet.

Sources in the Union home ministry today said the Uttarakhand government had informed them about the reported transgression on July 22 by Chinese troops at Barahoti, in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district.

"The Uttarakhand government has been asked to submit a detailed report on the incident. We have also sought a report from the ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) to identify what the activity was. Only if they (Chinese) enter inside our borders will it be called intrusion. We need to investigate whether it was actually an infiltration bid," junior home minister Kiren Rijiju said.

ITBP director-general Krishna Chaudhury met Rijiju at his North Block office this evening and briefed him about the incident.

"It was very foggy on July 22 and our men had gone near the point on the border that we claim as our territory. After some time, they (the Chinese) transgressed to the Indian side of the border but they went back after our men protested," Chaudhury told The Telegraph.

Sources in the army said "transgressions continue to happen along the LAC (Line of Actual Control) on account of differing perceptions on the border". #In the current Barahoti incident, a small detachment of the PLA (Chinese People's Liberation Army) with about five soldiers came across an Indian patrol in the area.

"The incident was handled as per mutually agreed drills. The incident did not last more than a few minutes. It is nothing alarming," said a source in the army.

The ITBP and the army are frequently colocated along the frontier with China.#This morning, agencies reported Uttarakhand government officials as saying that a Joshimath district team visited Barahoti to monitor relief work after rains, during which Chinese troops were spotted in the area.

The Chinese troops chased away the district administration team.

"The good thing is the Chinese have not touched an important canal there," agencies quoted Rawat as saying. He added the border was peaceful.# Last year, shepherds had informed the administration that Chinese troops were camping in the pastureland.