It’s almost a year since the deadly Galwan clashes that brought tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) to its highest in decades. After a year, the Border Road Organisation (BRO) has accelerated work to connect with the China border with many critical projects underway.
The BRO has implemented works worth Rs 8,739 crore, a 13 % jump over the previous year, besides keeping the important mountain passes in Ladakh and the North East open for much longer last year for easy facilitation of military movement, officials told ET.
Defence Minister Rajnath Singh also ensured that BRO gets an increase in its annual budget this year to Rs 9,350 crore, despite economic strain due to the pandemic.
“The additional funds will be used to acquire new machinery, equipment, and construction plants that will help in faster execution of works by the organisation. The increased funds will also be used for the maintenance of strategic roads, tunnels, and bridges on the border with China,” officials said.
A critical project underway is a new road alignment (Manali-Shinkula-Nimmu highway) to Ladakh from Himachal, designed as an all-weather axis. Besides such large projects, small projects like a forward Army location at Yangtze in Arunachal was connected by road in record time last year.
