Border Area Development  

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Context

• Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has called upon Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to further enhance its capability through optimum use of technology and strive to strengthen the infrastructure of the border areas at a faster pace.
  • He was addressing all ranks of the BRO at an event organised in New Delhi to celebrate the 63rd Raising Day of the Organisation.
• He also points out towards continuous border area development is part of our defence strategy to stay prepared with changing times.
• Shri Rajnath Singh also launched two software - BRO Resource Management System and BRO Budget Management System – developed by Bhaskaracharya National Institute for Space Applications and Geo-informatics (BISAG-N). The software will automate the distribution and utilisation of the resources as well as the budget of the BRO.
• In addition, the Raksha Mantri flagged in ‘BRO@63 Multi-Dimensional Expedition’ organised in the run-up to 63rd Raising Day.
  • Sixty-three BRO personnel, including six women, took part in the 12-day expedition which comprised four distinct activities i.e., a mountaineering trek to the 15,000 feet Pangarchula peak covering a distance of approximately 50 kilometres; Rafting in the rapids of River Ganga for 35 kilometres; Cyclothon from Dehradun to Delhi covering a distance of 591 kilometres and a Fit BRO Endurance Run from Roorkee to Delhi covering a distance of 190 kilometres.
  • During the expedition, the teams also conducted various public outreach programmes and interacted with the people, especially with the youth, urging them to contribute to the Nation Building.
  • The expedition was flagged-off by Uttarakhand Governor Lt Gen Gurmit Singh from Dehradun, Uttarakhand.

About Border Road Organisation (BRO)

• Functioning under the control of the Ministry of Defence since 2015, the BRO is engaged in road construction to provide connectivity to difficult and inaccessible regions in the border areas of the country.
• It is staffed by officers and troops drawn from the Indian Army’s Corps of Engineers, Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, Army Service Corps, Military Police and army personnel on extra regimental employment.
• Engineering Service and personnel from the General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF) form the parent cadre of the Border Roads Organisation.
• Currently, the organisation maintains operations in twenty-one states, one UT (Andaman and Nicobar Islands), and neighbouring countries such as Afghanistan, Bhutan, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka.
• The BRO operates and maintains over 32,885 kilometres of roads and about 12,200 meters of permanent bridges in the country.

Significance of Border Road Organisation (BRO)

• The Border Roads Organization has played a very important role in both maintenances of security and the development of border areas. Most of the development in the North-Eastern states of India can be attributed to the relentless work done by the BRO. Socio-economic development in the most inaccessible nooks and corners of our country is a result of the infrastructural work undertaken by the BRO.
• Apart from its work in India, the BRO has undertaken work in numerous countries thus having contributed immensely towards maintaining friendly and diplomatic relations. The highly-skilled BRO personnel undertook and completed the construction of the Delaram-Zaranj Highway in Afghanistan in 2008. The Barkhor and Ayni airbases of Tajikistan were also restored and repaired by the BRO.
• The BRO works in close association with the Indian Army in cases of natural disasters. It is the brave men of the BRO who were responsible for much of the reconstruction work undertaken as a result of the 2004 Tsunami in Tamil Nadu, the 2010 Ladakh flash floods and even during the 2014 Jammu and Kashmir Floods.

https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1823456