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Standing Committee Pulls Up MoD For Better Infrastructure
The Standing Committee on Defence, of the 15th Lok Sabha, met today to deliberate on the time-lines and quality of the roads and infrastructure projects at the Indo-China border. In its meeting Chaired by the Standing Committee Chairman Satpal Maharaj of the Congress, the Committee members raised queries pertaining to the delays and other challenges in projects of border roads and sought answers to a list of points about the construction of roads in border areas and about obtaining approval for diversion of forest land from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, for the same. Answering queries of MPs (Members of Parliament) at the meet were Director General Border Roads Organisation (BRO), Lt Gen M C Bhadani and other senior officers.
The Indian Army had recently sought a feasibility report from certain formations about raising its own special rapid reaction force units, to counter China, in the northeast, in which one of the main points raised was that of poor infrastructure, which could hinder the movement of troops. In the northeast Arunachal Pradesh shares a 1046 kilometer long border with China, while in Jammu and Kashmir, the Indo-China border is 523 kilometer long.
Considering that the BRO has been building roads and other infrastructure for the past 50 years in the border areas for the Indian Army, the Standing Committee today discussed the possibility of good quality roads to be made by BRO at the Indo-China border, which would speed up the movement of troops and also took up the reasons causing the delay in the BRO projects involved in road laying in this terrain.
The all-party MPs who attended the meet stressed on time-lines to be met , release of extra funds for the same and maintenance of quality of roads and other infrastructure. A detailed report of today's meet will be handed over to the Ministry of Defence (MoD), which will later be tabled in Parliament.
Air-lift capability during an emergency for troops to be moved, from one place to another was another focus area of the agenda.
Besides land acquisition, other reasons leading to delays like, General elections and late release of funds were also taken up.
Citing reasons for delay as adverse climatic conditions, hard rocks being encountered during construction, shortage of manpower and inadequate availability of air effort, Defence Minister A K Antony had earlier said in Parliament that out of 61 roads being constructed by BRO, 43 will be completed on schedule by 2012. Another nine will be completed by 2013, and the remaining nine are likely to be completed by 2018.
Manpower shortage is reported to be one of the reasons for delay in construction of border roads. The present strength of BRO is 35,987 against authorized strength of 42,636. However steps have been taken to be meet the shortage by recruiting manpower. To expedite the recruitment process, mobile recruitment teams have been constituted at Rishikesh, Pathankot, Jodhpur and Tezpur besides the GREF Centre, Pune. For Group A Civil Engineering Cadre officers, a case was also taken up with UPSC for direct recruitment on interview basis.
