Defence Minister Arun Jaitley on Friday said, based on the strategic reality of our neighbourhood, the government is taking all steps to create matching infrastructure on our side to realize our military potential.
Addressing the first meeting of the Consultative Committee attached to his ministry here, after the new government came to power, Jaitley said: "Our immediate neighbours have already enhanced infrastructure in proximity to the borders."
Jaitley said the government has initiated several steps to overcome road blocks such as procedural delays, environmental clearance and shortage of high technology equipment to hasten the process of building roads in these critical areas.
As far as India-China border roads are concerned, the government has initiated building of 73 roads of total length 3,812 km for development. Out of this, 61 have been entrusted to BRO, totalling 3,410 km. The BRO has completed road length of 590 kms on 17 roads. Work on the balance roads structures are under progress and in different stages of completion. The Army has prioritized 22 roads structuring up to 3,000 kms for development. The works on these roads have been taken up by the BRO and are being intensively monitored by the Ministry to the mission for early completion.
The Director General Border Roads, Lt. Gen. AT Parnaik, while giving the details said the completion of roads has been affected due to various reasons such as delay in obtaining forest/wildlife clearance, difficult terrain conditions, hard road structures, limited working period in a year due to extreme weather conditions, paucity of construction material and challenges posed by natural disasters e.g., flash floods in Leh in 2010, earthquake in Sikkim in 2011, Uttarakhand floods in 2013 and Jammu and Kashmir floods in 2014.
He said efforts have been made to overcome these factors through greater coordination with MoEF, modernization of BRO, induction of more units and resources.
Jaitley thanked the MoEF for easing environmental clearances which has helped progress road construction. He complimented the BRO for their work in restoring road links during the recent floods in JandK.
"BRO has been an effective initial responder in disaster management," he said.
Taking part in the discussion, Members of Parliament belonging to various political parties highlighted the yeoman service provided by BRO to the nation since its inception in 1960. They were, however, critical about the delay in completion of projects, so crucial for the safety and security of the country. They were also unanimous in their opinion that BRO should be spared of any budget cuts in the event of austerity measures. Some members wanted that BRO should undergo a "transformational change" to convert it into a highly efficient organization.
The Members of Parliament, who attended the meeting, included Choudhary Babu Lal, Vijay Sampla, Mallikarjun Kharge, Raj Kumar Singh, Prof. Saugata Roy, Rajeeve Chandrasekhar, Dr. Mahendra Prasad, T.K. Rangarajan and H.K. Dua.
Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh, Defence Secretary RK Mathur, Secretary Defence Production G Mohan Kumar, Secretary Defence Finance Vandana Srivastava also attended the meeting.
