Defence minister inaugurates 27 border roads, bridges; says vital to tackle conflict  

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, who inaugurated 27 projects, constructed by the Border Roads Organisation, on Tuesday said that India needs to strengthen the infrastructure along its borders as “the possibility of any kind of conflict cannot be ruled out.”

“In the present uncertain environment, the possibility of any kind of conflict cannot be ruled out. Such situations motivate us even more for the development of these (border) areas. It is a matter of pride that we have BRO for cooperation in the development of these areas, as an efficient and dedicated organisation,” Singh said.

Making no direct reference to China, the defence minister said that India was able to fight the enemy at the northern sector only because the area had proper infrastructure development.

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Many of the projects including 24 bridges built by the BRO are close to India’s border with China. At least ₹2,245 crore was spent on the projects. Five of the bridges are in Ladakh, nine in Jammu and Kashmir, three in Uttarakhand, five in Himachal Pradesh and one in Arunachal Pradesh.

Asserting that infrastructure development along the border strengthens India’s strategic capabilities, Singh said there is also a greater need to ramp up surveillance at these places.

The defence minister dedicated to the nation the newly-built Chismule-Demchok Road, which running at an altitude of over 19,000 ft on the Umling La pass, is the world’s highest motorable road.

Demchok, situated in India, is one of the key areas of friction between India and China. In the course of the 20-month India-China standoff, Chinese tents have come up in the area inside the Indian side of the Line of Actual Control (LAC).

At this juncture, Singh said the new road will “not only enable faster movement of armed forces to the region but will also boost tourism and improve the socio-economic condition of the local people in the region.”

The bridge on the Flag Hill-Dokala Road in Sikkim is one of the vital projects, as it provides an alternative path to the India-China-Bhutan trijunction near the Doklam plateau, where the 2017 India-China border skirmish took place. Singh said it is a Class 70 bridge built at a height of 11,000 feet and with the help of indigenous raw materials.

Drawing from history, the defence minister said the evolution of human civilization is directly connected to its ability to find its own path.

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“If we look at the history of human civilization, then we find that only those communities, societies or nations have been able to show the word a way, that had developed their own paths firmly,” he said.

“In today’s era, distance is not measured in kilometres, but in hours. BRO’s roads, tunnels and bridges have reduced the distance and time between places today,” he added.