angeldemon_007
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India woefully lags behind China in raising border infrastructure. While China has built all-weather road network of more than 50,000 kms in the Tibetan plateau and along the Line of Actual Control(LAC) to provide unhindered logistical support to its troops, Indias 19 strategic road projects in Arunachal and Ladakh are way behind the target. Alarmed over the delay, Defence Minister AK Antony last Friday discussed the matter at high-level meeting, and issued direction for a monthly review of these projects.
The strategic roads are built by the Border Roads Organisation(BRO) in Jammu and Kashmir, entire north-eastern region and parts of Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand, Rajasthan and Punjab.
Elaborating upon the road network in the north-east States especially Arunachal, sources said essential supply to troops in strategically important Tawang region at present is being met maintained by helicopters. The project to provide Tawang road connectivity by linking it the nearest road heads of Balipara and Charduar was running at least one and half years behind schedule.
Similarly, supply to Ladakh is also air-maintained in the absence of roads.
Another critically important road project Orang-Kalakathang-Shergaon Rupa-Tenga running across the hilly State to provide all weather connectivity is lagging behind by two years and the axis of Shergaon-BJ Gompa-Teli-Tawang is also more than a year behind schedule.
All these regions are important for defence preparedness as they are close to the LAC. Though the Government has approved raising of two mountain divisions(each division has more than 10,000 soldiers) for this sector besides purchasing state of the art weaponry, the absence of a reliable road network will pose difficulty in maintaining these troops.
Highlighting the importance of these two divisions, sources said the Cabinet Committee on Security(CCS) headed by the Prime Minister will soon review the proposal for the first ever mountain strike corps comprising these two divisions. This is estimated to cost more than Rs. 60,000 crore.
Given the present state of affairs, Antony last week asked the BRO to speed up construction of these critical roads and meet the timelines. Peeved over the delays, he also ordered the BRO to review the projects every month in order to bring in more accountability.
The Indian armed forces deployed along the 4,500 km long LAC are in a disadvantageous position as compared to China, which has built vastly superior military infrastructure including roads right up to their forward posts. This connectivity enables China to maintain year-round logistical support to its troops.
In addition to supply crunch, the troops deployed in Arunachal have to march at least four to five days from the nearest road head to reach the forward posts. This seriously hampers the effectiveness and combat readiness at a time when China is rapidly modernizing its armed forces and poses a threat to India, sources said.
The delay in building 73 strategic roads all over the country also figured in parliament .last week. The Government informed that that only 15 of roads were completed so far, and the reaming will be ready by 2016.
While the BRO cannot escape criticism for time and cost overruns, sources said issues like environment clearances for building roads through jungles and fragile mountains and ferrying heavy road building equipment like bulldozers, are major stumbling blocks.
Appreciating the practical difficulty of transporting heavy building equipment, the government recently allowed the BRO to hire helicopters from public sector Pawan Hans. Earlier, the IAF used to airlift the bulldozers but of late expressed its inability to do so due to paucity of helicopters and operational requirements.
Elaborating upon the peculiarities of terrain in Arunachal Pradesh, sources said the gradient is more steep as compared to the Chinese side topography is gentler and plateau in nature. Building a road in mountains is always a tough task and more so if the gradient is steep, officials said.
Moreover, heavy snowfall for nearly six months of the year besides rains and landslides provide only a window of four to five months for road building activities in most of the mountain region, source said.
The LAC is divided into three sectors like western sector(Jammu and Kashmir), middle sector(Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh) and eastern sector(Arunachal Pradesh).
Three strategic roads which are divided in various sub sectors in Arunachal Pradesh are: Balipara-Charduar-Tawang(BCT); Orang-Kalakathang-Rupa-Tenga(OKRT); and Shergaon-BJGompa-Teli-Tawang.
Antony rues woeful border roads
The strategic roads are built by the Border Roads Organisation(BRO) in Jammu and Kashmir, entire north-eastern region and parts of Himachal Pradesh and Uttrakhand, Rajasthan and Punjab.
Elaborating upon the road network in the north-east States especially Arunachal, sources said essential supply to troops in strategically important Tawang region at present is being met maintained by helicopters. The project to provide Tawang road connectivity by linking it the nearest road heads of Balipara and Charduar was running at least one and half years behind schedule.
Similarly, supply to Ladakh is also air-maintained in the absence of roads.
Another critically important road project Orang-Kalakathang-Shergaon Rupa-Tenga running across the hilly State to provide all weather connectivity is lagging behind by two years and the axis of Shergaon-BJ Gompa-Teli-Tawang is also more than a year behind schedule.
All these regions are important for defence preparedness as they are close to the LAC. Though the Government has approved raising of two mountain divisions(each division has more than 10,000 soldiers) for this sector besides purchasing state of the art weaponry, the absence of a reliable road network will pose difficulty in maintaining these troops.
Highlighting the importance of these two divisions, sources said the Cabinet Committee on Security(CCS) headed by the Prime Minister will soon review the proposal for the first ever mountain strike corps comprising these two divisions. This is estimated to cost more than Rs. 60,000 crore.
Given the present state of affairs, Antony last week asked the BRO to speed up construction of these critical roads and meet the timelines. Peeved over the delays, he also ordered the BRO to review the projects every month in order to bring in more accountability.
The Indian armed forces deployed along the 4,500 km long LAC are in a disadvantageous position as compared to China, which has built vastly superior military infrastructure including roads right up to their forward posts. This connectivity enables China to maintain year-round logistical support to its troops.
In addition to supply crunch, the troops deployed in Arunachal have to march at least four to five days from the nearest road head to reach the forward posts. This seriously hampers the effectiveness and combat readiness at a time when China is rapidly modernizing its armed forces and poses a threat to India, sources said.
The delay in building 73 strategic roads all over the country also figured in parliament .last week. The Government informed that that only 15 of roads were completed so far, and the reaming will be ready by 2016.
While the BRO cannot escape criticism for time and cost overruns, sources said issues like environment clearances for building roads through jungles and fragile mountains and ferrying heavy road building equipment like bulldozers, are major stumbling blocks.
Appreciating the practical difficulty of transporting heavy building equipment, the government recently allowed the BRO to hire helicopters from public sector Pawan Hans. Earlier, the IAF used to airlift the bulldozers but of late expressed its inability to do so due to paucity of helicopters and operational requirements.
Elaborating upon the peculiarities of terrain in Arunachal Pradesh, sources said the gradient is more steep as compared to the Chinese side topography is gentler and plateau in nature. Building a road in mountains is always a tough task and more so if the gradient is steep, officials said.
Moreover, heavy snowfall for nearly six months of the year besides rains and landslides provide only a window of four to five months for road building activities in most of the mountain region, source said.
The LAC is divided into three sectors like western sector(Jammu and Kashmir), middle sector(Uttrakhand and Himachal Pradesh) and eastern sector(Arunachal Pradesh).
Three strategic roads which are divided in various sub sectors in Arunachal Pradesh are: Balipara-Charduar-Tawang(BCT); Orang-Kalakathang-Rupa-Tenga(OKRT); and Shergaon-BJGompa-Teli-Tawang.
Antony rues woeful border roads
