Tensions between New Delhi and Beijing have flared again along their disputed Himalayan border, after Chinese soldiers ordered Indian villagers to stop constructing a road in the remote Ladakh region.

The 8km road was being built by villagers in a corner of Jammu and Kashmir state, near the de facto border with China, as part of New Delhi's rural employment guarantee scheme, designed to boost rural incomes while developing local infrastructure.

Officials in Jammu and Kashmir said yesterday they had reported the incident to New Delhi and had sought guidance. “Chinese stopped the construction work, saying it was their territory, even though the village falls well within Indian territory,” Chering Dorjay, chief councillor of the Ladakh Autonomous Hill Development Council, told an Indian TV channel.