Celebrating the 52nd Raising Day of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) recently, Lt. Gen. S. Ravi Shankar, its Director General highlighted the work done in extremely challenging conditions along the border in places like Zojila, Khardungla and Changla in the North and Tawang and Sela in the East. “We are now working even closer to the borders and under more challenging conditions. The past year has been very eventful with projects such as the cable-stayed bridge at Basohli starting and the longest-ever bridge constructed by the BRO at Digaru getting completed. BRO’s response to the earthquake was widely acclaimed as also was the timely response to keep Srinagar connected despite heavy snow. With BRO braving winters like never before, the Rohtang and Zojila passes have been opened well ahead of schedule this year,” he said.
Addressing the commanders of all three services at New Delhi on April 2, defence minister A.K. Antony highlighted that “China’s rise as an economic and military power and its assertive policies have implications for India” and that “China’s strategic rivalry with India and Japan would definitely affect the Asian security environment”.
It was Mr Antony who blew the whistle on China’s massive strategic build-up in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), which it occupies facing Arunachal Pradesh, when he visited the state in early 2008 and observed China’s major strategic infrastructural development across the Line of Actual Control there. His visit was followed shortly in February 2008, by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh who announced a massive long overdue developmental package for “our land of the rising sun” only increasing China’s ire.
The decision for speedy implementation of projects by BRO in Arunachal Pradesh meant relocation of its resources from other states. However, with the kind of challenges the altitude and terrain poses in Arunachal Pradesh for road construction, then Director-General, Lt. Gen. M.C. Badhani made a considered request for helicopters to move equipment for the quick completion of the project. Minister of state for defence Mr Pallam Raju gave BRO the green signal for hiring helicopters from outside agencies to expedite construction of strategic roads in Arunachal Pradesh and other Himalayan border states like Uttarakhand, during a meeting of the Border Roads Development Board (BRDB) at Itanagar. Out of the total 5,061 km of road length planned in high altitude areas, 2,764 km are in Arunachal alone.
That fast tracking started bearing fruit with the BRO completing the 720-metre-long bridge in Arunachal Pradesh. Linking Lohit and Dibang Valley, the Digaru Bridge, as it has been named, fulfils the longstanding requirements of infrastructure-communications, development for Arunachal Pradesh and also for strategic movement of men and material for the Army, particularly in view of China’s development of the TAR and the Chinese forces deployed there. The bridge was inaugurated by minister of state for defence and chairman, Border Roads Development Board, M.M. Pallam Raju at a function in Lohit district.
Harsh weather conditions prevented Mr Raju’s helicopter from taking off for Tezu and he decided to travel by road, undergoing more than five hours’ gruelling journey, including crossing of Alubari Ghat on traditional ferries/boats and experiencing the hardships faced by the local population and Army personnel in the absence of bridges in the foothills of Arunachal Pradesh.
During the road journey, the MoS inspected each activity of road/bridge construction on National Highways NH-13 and NH-15.
The minister complemented BRO for the excellent work being executed comparable to the international standards despite severe constraints.
Other major projects in Arunachal Pradesh are the 637.60 m Noadhing bridge on NH-52, the second-longest being constructed by the BRO and a 480 m eight-span PSC box girder bridge (Siku bridge) on NH-52 without involvement of contractors.
With the humble beginning of two projects in 1960, Beacon in the North and Vartak in the East, today there are 15 Chief Engineer Projects spread over the length and breadth of the country. BRO has earned the reputation of the only road construction agency in the country to construct and maintain roads in the most difficult and inhospitable terrain, altitude and climate anywhere in the world. The people in border areas have immense faith in BRO towards maintenance of lifelines of Sikkim, Bhutan, Aruna-chal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, Jammu & Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The BRO has constructed 46,780 km of roads in remote areas, including new construction, conversion from single lane to double lane and roads for coal fields of Bihar, Jharkhand and Orissa. Over the years, the BRO has bridged river gaps of the hilly regions of North & Northeast with equipment bridges like Bailey, Bailey Suspension, Hamilton and Inglis bridges. These are being replaced with major/minor permanent bridges.
BRO is currently constructing approximately 9,000 km roads, maintaining about 20,000 km, including 5,000 km of National Highways. The BRO carries out snow clearance on roads in J&K, Himachal, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, not only to ensure the provision of logistic support for the Army, but also to provide road connectivity to the local population in the far-flung areas. Some of these roads traverse over mountain passes as high as over 16,000 feet and snow precipitation of 3 to 4.5 metres, with the accumulation as high as 31 metres at avalanche sites.
The annual report of the ministry of home affairs (MHA) reveals that to overcome poor road connectivity which hampers the operational capability of forces deployed along the border with China, the Government of India has decided to undertake phase-wise construction of 27 roads in Arunachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim at a total cost of `1,937 crores.
The government has also approved 313 km of road along the international border with Bhutan in Assam at a cost of `1,259 crores. The project is to be completed in five years and the state government has constituted a committee headed by an additional chief secretary to ease out any bottlenecks in construction including land acquisition.
The report said that 13 battalions have been deployed along the international border with Bhutan and 131 border outposts have been set up. A bilateral mechanism has been put in place to assess the threat perception from time to time and the mechanism has been quite successful, the report added.
Anil Bhat, a retired Army officer, is a security and defence analyst based in New Delhi