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Nobody expected it to be smooth sailing for these
frontier warriors but a fatality rate of nine
in ten days, is much higher than the fatality
rate of the Army battalions in Jammu and Kashmir,
where Army units are engaged in fighting terrorists
and militants.
The Border Roads Organisation, popularly known
as BRO, is a civil engineering institution responsible
to provide civil (construction) engineering cover
to the Armed Forces of India, during war and peace.
It is the brain child of India’s first Prime Minister,
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru.
BRO has till date constructed 28,342 km of formation
cutting, 32,885 km of surfacing, 12,200 metres
of permanent bridges and has undertake Rs 2039
crore (USD 436 Million) worth of permanent works.
Over 75 percent of BRO’s road construction projects
are in High Altitude Areas (HAAs). It is presently
building 2,764 km of a total of 5,061 km road
length in India’s northeastern state of Arunachal
Pradesh alone.
Minister of State for Defence MM Pallam Raju
has asked the BRO to explore the possibility of
hiring helicopters from outside agencies to expedite
construction of strategic roads in Arunachal Pradesh
and other Himalayan border states. Presiding over
a meeting of the Border Roads Development Board
(BRDB), he stressed the need to build infrastructure
right up to the last mile of the border, something
which should have otherwise been done long ago.
The Director-General Border Roads (DGBR), Lt
Gen MC Badhani says that the Indian Air Force
(IAF) airlift capability is extremely low (as
it has limited and old aircraft), leading to delays
in most border roads in Arunachal beyond 2013.
Against BRO’s need of 3,500 tons last year, only
400 tons was actually airlifted.
Helicopter service Pawan Hans has submitted an
initial proposal to partially meet the BRO’s requirements
but its pilots were not trained for hanging, underslung
payloads that need to be airdropped in inaccessible
places lacking landing sites.
Pointing out that earthmovers and machinery deployed
in the snowbound areas were reduced to a life
span of just 30 percent of their optimum level,
Engineerin- Chief Lt. General AK Nanda assured
that the Utility Factor (UF) and obsolescence
parameters were being revised soon for better
usage of the equipment.
The requirement of raising BRO was felt during
the 1950s when it was found that the lofty Himalayan
mountains were no longer effective as a natural
protective wall. Pakistani soldiers and marauders
had seized a portion of Jammu and Kashmir in 1948.
The possibility of an aggression from Chinese
side was also imminent. Positioning of Indian
troops farthest in Himalayas had thus become obligatory
but there were no means of communication for their
deployment and maintenance in the mountainous
tract.
Setting up of a network of new roads was essential
in the so far inaccessible highlands. The civil
engineering element of State resources like PWD
could hardly tackle the massive task. It was at
that juncture that the Indian Parliament decided
to raise BRO/GREF under the stewardship of the
Engineer-in- Chief of the Corps of Engineers.
Snow clearance continues to be one of the most
unique tasks performed by BRO.
The daredevils slog day and night in subzero
temperatures and in conditions almost beyond human
endurance to keep Changla and Khardungla open
throughout the year and keep the hostile border
in constant touch and vigil. Opening of Zojila,
Rohtang, Baralachala and Tanglangla much ahead
of schedule are testimony to the tireless and
dauntless efforts of the BRO. It is only due to
efforts of the BRO that Ladakh, higher reaches
of Himachal, the Kashmir Valley and the dizzy
heights of the North East are connected to the
rest of the country.
Revamping of road infrastructure along the India-China
border is the top priority for New Delhi and shortage
of manpower in BRO is proving to be a major hindrance
to this. “The total sanctioned posts in BRO are
42,646. However, only 34,966 posts are currently
filled,” a senior BRO official told India
Strategic.
In the officer cadre, there are 1,540 vacancies
but BRO has been able to fill only 880 posts.
Hard and difficult working conditions in far
flung remote areas of the country, non-family
stations, inclement weather conditions, inhospitable
terrain and Naxalite (Maoist) or other militancy
problems inhibit young people from joining the
BRO, lamented the officials of the force. Absence
of good contractors in most of their work areas
adds to the misery of the consistently decreasing
labour force.
Also, the construction of 61 roads along the
India-China border have been delayed due to environment
clearances not coming in time and inclement weather,
Defence Minister A.K. Antony informed the Rajya
Sabha recently.
The government had earmarked 73 roads for construction
along the unresolved 4,056 km long Line of Actual
Control (LAC) with China. But only 12 roads have
been completed so far.
The government has been trying to revamp the
infrastructure along the border with China. This
includes construction of roads, refurbishment
of airfields, deployment of tanks and raising
of two more mountain divisions. The progress has
also to match the pace of the Chinese construction
and infrastructure development across the border.
There are occasional Chinese incursions into
the Indian side but New Delhi officially regards
them as a non-issue. The government admits though
that China’s infrastructure along the Line of
Actual Control is much superior to that of India.
BRO is working hard to enhance the road infrastructure
in Arunachal Pradesh and Ladakh along the India-China
border to provide logistic support to the Indian
Army whose personnel need logistic support even
in peace time. BRO has been asked to complete
all works by end-2013.
At least eight roads are termed strategic in
Arunachal of which four are yet to be completed.
As many as 75 roads with a total length of more
than 6,000 km are now under construction at a
cost of Rs 5,000 crore ($ 1079 Million). Besides
this, 7,000 km of roads costing Rs 12,000 crore
($ 2568 Million) are under various stages of construction
in the north-east.
The Special Accelerated Road Development Programme
for North- East (SARDP-NE) project was divided
into two phases: The first phase involving 1,300
km of roads primarily in the north-eastern states
is to be completed by this year-end. The second
phase involves 5,700 km with 2013 as the deadline.
With road construction on fullswing in the border
areas, IAF has also begun upgrading its advanced
landing grounds in Ladakh and Arunachal region.
While it has built four air bases in Ladakh in
the last one year, plans are afoot to upgrade
such bases in Arunachal in a timebound manner.
The Government had cleared a plan to upgrade
nearly 40 airfields all over the country, most
of them in the north-east, in an effort to maintain
connectivity, a necessity both for development
and defence in an eventuality. Work in all these
airfields is scheduled to be completed within
the next five to seven years.
There is a buzz about BRO chalking out a procurement
plan for modern, all terrain equipment.
Declaring that a more enabling environment would
be created to attract young men to join the force,
the DGBR hopes to bring operational transformation
and improved work environment for the hard pressed
force.
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