Construction of border road in Arunachal

Construction of border road in Arunachal

Government has taken cognizance of the road infrastructure created by China along the international border especially opposite Arunachal Pradesh. In order to provide the required road infrastructure to meet the requirement of defence forces, a holistic plan is under implementation.

Seventy-three roads have been identified as strategic Indo-China Border Roads (ICBR). Of these, 61 roads have been entrusted to Border Roads Organisation (BRO) of length measuring 3417.51 km. Out of 61 ICBRs with BRO, 27 roads of length measuring 1791.96 km are in Arunachal Pradesh.

At present 21 roads of length measuring 661.59 km have been completed which include 11 roads of length measuring 412.70 km in Arunachal Pradesh.

In order to remove the bottlenecks and expedite the construction works the following specific measures has been taken by the Government:

•  Chief Secretaries of various State Governments have been requested to constitute Empowered Committees under their chairmanship with Secretaries of concerned departments as members to resolve issues related to land acquisition, forest/ wildlife clearance, allotment of quarries etc. States of Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh, J&K, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand have constituted the Empowered Committee to resolve the issues pertaining to BRO. 

•  Ministry of Environment & Forest (MoEF) has given the General Approval under section 2 of forest (conservation) Act, 1980 for diversion of forest land required for construction /widening of roads entrusted to BRO in the area falling within 100 kilometers aerial distance from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and for link roads between Border Roads in the area within 100 kilometer aerial distance from the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and National Highways/State Highways/Other roads subject to certain conditions. 

•  Outsourcing has been allowed to augment capacity of BRO. 

•  Long Term Roll On Work Plan (LTROWP) and Long Term Equipment Plan (LTEP) have been approved. 

• Enhanced financial and administrative powers have been given to the executives of BRO.

In addition to the ICBRs, 66 roads of length measuring 3221.94 km in Arunachal Pradesh are approved in the five year Long Term Roll on Works Plan 2015-2020 for construction / improvement.

This information was given by Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar in a written reply to Shri Rayapati Sambasiva Rao in Lok Sabha.

- PTI