The Galwan stand-off with China triggered unprecedented infrastructure development all along the arduous terrain of LAC. In just 5 years India has been able to connect first villages on the front lines to the mainland reducing distance and time to these strategically sensitive areas. This network of roads, bridges, tunnels and airfields is now a deterrent for our hostile neighbours.
News9’s Nivriti Mohan speaks exclusively to the Director General of the Border Roads Organisation, Lt Gen Raghu Srinivasan.
Q. You have been constructing roads to India’s borders in very difficult terrain in a mission mode. What has changed in the last few years?
Ans. In the last 12 to 14 years, there has been a paradigm shift in the way that we approach road connectivity in the borders. Earlier, we looked at connecting population centers, and we had one axis which was leading up to it. Now, as we speak, we have the third connectivity to Ladakh. We have gone in from Nimo Padam, Darcha, which is along the Zanskar valley. We go over the Shinku La Pass. We are also building a tunnel on Shinku La. This was inaugurated by the honorable Prime minister in August. The work already has commenced, and this is going to be one of the longest passes in the world at the highest altitude. We are seeing more roads, longer distance connected right up to the border. And this is not just Ladakh, I’m talking about Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh or anywhere along the northeastern states.
Every where we are connecting to the last border locations. We are having more access. We are having lateral connectivity between the axis and all of this leads to, a difference in the way we look at our borders.
Q. Pace of road construction and other infrastructure by the Border Roads is phenomenal. Why was it not happening earlier?
Ans : It’s an overall government approach in how you see your borders and like I said, if you look at your borders as merely territory to be held and you do the bare minimum to meet the military and security, that was one way of looking at it. I mean, if you compare the budget BRO got about 12 – 15 years ago, it was about Rs 4,000 crores. Today it is 16,000 crores. And the next year it is going to be Rs 18,700 crores. So, this is the amount of budgetary support that you are getting. And that means that the government is looking for more roads which are being built. We used to build, 670km of road at that time. And last year we built 1125 km of roads in a single year. And all of these are in high altitude and very difficult terrain where the working season is barely six months in the year. And now, this year, we hope to even touch 1,500 kilometers.
Q. I had been to CDFD road. It is fantastic, bang on LAC and runs parallel. I could see Chinese Observation post on the other side.
Ans. We are connecting it with lateral roads now. Very importantly, Pangong Tso divides the eastern Ladakh, into two. So you have the south of Pangong Tso and the north of the Pangong Tso Lake.
So, the south of the lake is this CDFD (Chushul-Dungti-Fukche-Demchok) road and north of the Pangong Lake is DSDBO ( Durbuk-Shyok-Daulat Beg Oldie) road, which goes northward. So now essentially what we’ve got is we’ve got this lateral which is running right from the north (DSDBO) to the south (CDFD). So we’ve got this lateral. And then from that lateral, you have further axels which are emanating going further to the border.
Q. Did you face objections from the Chinese while you were constructing along LAC?
Ans . Yes. We are actually construction agencies. So, I would leave the objections of the adversary to the military authorities who are responsible for that. They would have a better picture of what exactly transpired. But, yes, what you’ve talked about is the usual.
Q. What are the BRO Marvels on the Borders ?
Ans . When you construct a road or a bridge or a tunnel or an airfield in the hinterland or at a difficult high altitude terrain, you’re faced with a number of challenges and working season of merely seven months and of course, the climate that is going to interdict you. So the very fact that you are able to build in these high altitude and difficult mountains in itself is a marvel.
Few to mention are the UmLing La road, which is the highest, motorable road in the world. We are going to have higher roads. Likaru-MigLa-Fukche will be higher than Umling La once constructed. We have some bridges, like I said, the tunnels that we are constructing.
So, I would say that, each of the infrastructure projects that we are doing, they are large, they are in difficult areas and there’s a surge in whatever, we’ve been doing.
Q. BRO is also working on Tunnels on a war footing. What is BRO’s Tunnel strategy ?
Ans . Yes, we are building bridges, tunnels and airfields rapidly. I think, BRO has become better at tunnels. Our first tunnel, the longest one, was the Atal tunnel, which is across the Rohtang pass.
And then we constructed the Sela Tunnel in Tawang which again was at 13,000 ft. And, now we are constructing the Shinku La tunnel at over 15000 ft, on the third axis, and construction is on as we speak. So, yes, in fragile Himalayan geology, I think, we need to increase the pace of construction of tunnels because otherwise we are prone to landslides and avalanches, which are triggered off in these young mountains, by snow and rain. So they provide all weather connectivity and that’s a huge strategic advantage.
Q. How is China Reacting?
Ans. The amount of infrastructure and the amount of focus that we are giving to the borders has created ripples and anxiety in our neighbour. So, it is not that we are reacting to what our northern adversary is doing. We are taking proactive measures to secure ourselves from any aggression which the rival may try in the future. And it, naturally, is looking at this very carefully. When the inauguration of Sela Tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh took place, it was very adversely commented upon by the Chinese. Similarly, whatever we are doing in Eastern Ladakh is being monitored very closely. So, I think we’ve been proactive. We are doing the right thing by securing ourselves from any future aggression in the borders.
Q. What is the next big thing?
Ans. It is the Mudh Nyoma Airfied in Ladakh, which is coming up soon. That is something which we are really very proud of… because to construct the airbase in those extreme harsh conditions and within deadlines is commendable. I would say that timelines have been met. The quality control is of the highest standards and a great job has been done by Project Himank and the Task Force which is over there. They’ve been working in a mission mode and you feel really proud about that. We hope that the inauguration will be sometime in October.
Q. BRO is using huge machinery and technology. Is that also a turning point?
Ans. One of the things that the Border Roads is looking at is capacity development, new generation equipment . So there’s a huge budgetary support for that. We are getting a lot of indigenous, Make in India equipment which is serving on the borders. Number two, we need to work with the research and development and engineering departments to develop the material which can be used in the borders in extreme climatic conditions. We are already working on it and using technology which is advanced and appropriate for extreme climatic conditions.
Q. Any budget constraints?
Ans. Border Roads is being looked upon as a force multiplier by the government. Honorable Raksha Mantri Rajnath Singh ji has said that policies and budgetary support will be tailor made to support Border Roads Organisation’s needs. We get a lot of support from the Indian Army, and they have gone out of their way to see that the road construction and the infrastructure development on the borders takes place unhindered.
Q. Road up to 1st villages of India. It’s a huge transformation for us as a country too. How do villagers react?
Ans. We have always maintained that you need to move military personnel and troops along the borders. But simultaneously, if you have your own population which is settled along the borders, doesn’t it serve as a more strategic form of defense? We used to have migration, which used to take place in the border states. But now, with new roads coming up, we’ve converted our last villages to first villages. I mean, this is what the honorable Prime Minister said. And roads are the harbinger of economic progress. Once you build a road, the Indian entrepreneurship takes over. You build wayside kiosks, schools, hospitals and bring in electricity, and then automatically, you know, in all these areas, there’s a surge in economic activity which was not seen in the past. So we’ve converted barren border areas to places where people can earn their livelihoods and bring economic progress, which naturally seeps down to the rest of the country. You need doctors, engineers, teachers, entrepreneurs and all that will come only once the road is through.
Q. How do you describe BRO?
Ans. It is a unique organization which doesn’t have a parallel anywhere in the world because the first thing is that it brings two people together. One is, that you have the military discipline that makes you work in a mission mode and you have civilian expertise like BRO cadre officers and the subordinates. We build bridges, roads, airfields, and we have the capability to do all of this ourselves. We hold our own equipment. We have the people who run that equipment. We have the departmental capability to do this work.
Unsung Heroes
I think the final word, which I would like to say, is that while the Border Roads is a great organization, we have, our own capability. There are the unsung heroes, which are the casual paid labourers. We employ about 70,000 casual paid labourers from the border states, and they work with us. These workers suffer a great deal of hardship. They stay with us and, they construct roads in this extremely treacherous terrain and we look after them. I salute their dedication, because, without them, the Border Force could not have achieved what it has been able to achieve.