If the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama were to return to Lhasa, he may not recognise his Himalayan homeland that has witnessed sea-changes over the last five decades, authorities here claim.

With Beijing asserting its authority and pouring in funds to develop the Tibetan capital, situated 12,000 feet above sea level, Lhasa has shopping malls, wide roads and flyovers springing all across, under the watchful eyes of the world's largest army that prevents any unrest from creeping up, Press Trust of India (PTI) reported.

With Tibet's GDP increasing 65-fold in the last fifty years, Lhasa has witnessed a lot of change since Dalai Lama fled this city in 1959, authorities say.

"It is true, Lhasa has changed a lot. We can see the difference. There have been lots of development in different areas," said Chamla Kalsang, Director of Potala Palace, the erstwhile seat of Dalai Lama and now a World Heritage Site.

Since 1960s, the Tibet region has been getting special economic assistance from Beijing for its all round development through financial subsidies, subsidised special projects and aid, PTI quoted authorities as saying.

During 2001-05, the accumulated financial subsidies that Bejing granted to Tibet amounted to 47.5 billion Yuan.

"Our prime concern is how to bring overall development to the entire Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR). You name any city in China, there is hardly any difference with Lhasa in terms of development and infrastructure," Vice Chairman of the People's Congress of TAR Nyima Tseren said.

While big Chinese companies like Petro China, Bank of China and China Mobile have set up bases in Lhasa, the TAR government claims that initiatives have also been taken for protecting Tibetan culture, including its language, heritage and even medicines.

At least 20,000 old manuscripts of Tibetan languages were recovered and are being restored and research centres set up for the study and propagation of Tibetan music and medicines by the Communist government that hopes to mitigate the influence of the exiled Buddhist leader from the region.

"Everything is being done in scientific manner respecting the sentiments of local Tibetan people," chief of Lhasa's Education and Scientific Research Centre Han Xiaowu said.

However, with last year's anti-China protests ahead of the Beijing Olympics, authorities are keeping a strict vigil to prevent a repeat of the riots.

"Dalai has been instigating some people here and that is why some rebellions had taken place in Tibet last year. But now everything is normal," Tseren claimed.

searc : Bernama.com

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