Twenty-eight infrastructure projects of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) inaugurated by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh earlier this year in Arunachal Pradesh is a class 70 steel arch superstructure bridge is crucial for troops to reach the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in the central part of Arunachal Pradesh, primarily the Tuting subdivision bordering China, or factually, Chinese Occupied Tibet.
The Projects comprise 22 bridges, including the Siyom bridge; three roads and three other projects in seven border States/Union Territories of Northern and North-Eastern regions. Eight of these projects are in Ladakh; five in Arunachal Pradesh; four in Jammu & Kashmir; three each in Sikkim, Punjab and Uttarakhand and two in Rajasthan. In addition, three telemedicine nodes – two in Ladakh and one in Mizoram – were inaugurated.
Also in January, work began on the strategically important Chushul-Dungti-Fukche-Demchok road, spanning 135 kilometre in the Ladakh region.
Earlier, on 28 October 2022, the Defence Minister inaugurated 75 infrastructure projects built by BRO at a function organised at Shyok village on the Darbuk-Shyokh-Daulat Beg Oldie (DSDBO) road, Ladakh, These 75 projects include 45 bridges, 27 roads, two helipads and one carbon neutral habitat. 20 of these projects are in Jammu & Kashmir, 18 each in Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh, five in Uttarakhand and 14 in other border States of Sikkim, West Bengal, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Rajasthan. One of the main highlights of the event was the onsite inauguration of the 120-metre long Class 70 ‘Shyok Setu Bridge’ on DSDBO Road at an altitude of 14,000 feet, which will facilitate logistics movement of the Armed Forces. Notably in 2021, a total of 100 bridges, roads, tunnels constructed by BRO were inaugurated to bolster the border infrastructure and connectivity.
India’s Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has been mentioned by the Guinness World Record for constructing highest motorable road in the world (19,024 feet) at Umlingla Pass in Ladakh. The 52-kilometre long Chisumle to Demchok tarmac road, passing through the Umlingla Pass beats the previous record of a road in Bolivia, which connects volcano Uturuncu at 18,953 feet.
Yet another engineering marvel by the BRO, the strategically important Atal Tunnel, was officially certified as the ‘World’s Longest Highway Tunnel’ above 10,000 feet by World Book of Records in February 2022. Nestled in the Pir Panjal Ranges of the Himalayas, the visionary project of the 9.02 km long Atal Tunnel runs under the ‘Rohtang Pass’(13,500 feet above sea level), which was constructed on the Manali – Leh Highway under the extremely challenging conditions of freezing cold in difficult mountainous terrain. Further, the International Federation of Consulting Engineers commonly known as ‘FIDIC’ also shortlisted Atal Tunnel for its prestigious Project Awards 2022, among the 28 best infrastructure marvels in the world. On April 28, 2022, Atal Tunnel also received ‘Best Infrastructure Project’ award by the Indian Building Congress (IBC) in New Delhi. More than thirty cutting-edge infrastructures were nominated for the prestigious awards, and the strategic tunnel was named the Best Projects for Excellence in the Built Environment in 2021 by the IBC Jury.
BRO has been reaffirming India’s commitment to ensure the progress of far-flung areas to fulfill the security needs of the country. BRO is now poised for some blockbuster projects, like India’s first ever underwater ‘Road-cum-Rail’ tunnels in Assam and the world’s highest tunnel at Shinku La Pass to connect Himachal Pradesh to Ladakh, among others.
BRO’s first-ever underwater road-cum-rail tunnels across the Brahmaputra River in Assam involves its strategic collaboration between Indian Railways and Road Transport Ministry and will amount to the construction of three parallel tunnels — two for road and one for rail.
Besides the bridge on the Siyom River on Along-Yinkiong Road in Arunachal Pradesh constructed in a period of eight months, a 45 metres span PSC Box Girder bridge on the Migging-Tuting Road in Arunachal Pradesh is also under construction by working in day and night shifts. Further, BRO has successfully constructed a 30.2 metres span Benadi Bridge in a record time of just 90 days and 181.2 metres span Pakka Kotha Bridge in a record time of just 212 days on Dyalchak-Ramkot Road in Jammu & Kashmir, executed entirely by BRO’s integral manpower / resources.
Construction of the 2.535 Km long Sela and 0.5 Km long Nechiphu Tunnels is in full swing. Once completed, the Sela Twin Tunnel will be one of the longest of tunnels in the World at an altitude of above 13000 ft. Construction of the 105 m long tunnel on Sela-Chabrela Road in Arunachal is also being undertaken. Further, construction of 2.79 Km long Sungal Tunnel, 0.7 Km long Naushera Tunnel, 1.1 Km long Bhimber Gali Tunnel, 0.26 Km long Kandi Tunnel all on Akhnoor-Poonch Road in UT of J&K and 0.92 Km long Cut & Cover Tunnel on DSDBO Road in UT of Ladakh are also going on.
Carbon Neutral Habitat is a complex wherein a significant amount of energy consumption is reduced, combined with the increased use of low carbon energy sources to meet the remaining demand. This methodology has been initiated by BRO as a pilot project at various locations in Ladakh with the aim to provide dignified and suitable habitats with better health parameters due to risk of cold injuries and better hygiene and sanitation to the local populace in Ladakh. BRO’s first Carbon Neutral Habitat at Hanle was one of those inaugurated by the defence minister in October 2022.
BRO is constructing a pilot road stretch in Arunachal Pradesh using steel slag which can withstand heavy rains and adverse climatic conditions. A multi-disciplinary expert group has been constituted to undertake trials with the help of CSIR-CRRI on Joram-Koloriang Road under BRO’s Project Arunank in Arunachal Pradesh.
For the first time BRO kept the crucial Zojila axis open till 04 January 2022. providing connectivity to the forces deployed in Ladakh. This is also the first time in history that the Zojila Pass was opened for traffic on 19 March, setting up an all-time record of the pass being opened after just 73 days of its closure against traditional norms of April/May. In a similar manner, the Manali-Sarchu axis was opened in a record time frame in March almost two months in advance. This has brought down the closure period of this road from an average of 160-180 days when the road used to be opened in May to just over 117 days. All other major passes in the Himalayas were also either kept open throughout the year or opened much ahead of schedule, thereby enabling easier logistics build-up for the troops.
The Chinese Communist Party-PLA combo has often been driven to launch transgressions/incursions by its anger at India’s infra progress along the LAC. It launched its second aggression on India in 2020, during the pandemic caused by its experimentation in biological warfare, owing to its great annoyance at India’s belated progress in strategic border areas infrastructure till 2019. Whatever has been achieved by BRO in 2022 and early 2023 is very substantial and has raised its ire much more. For India it is imperative to continue the momentum of its long overdue building of strategic infrastructure, because a lot more needs to be done to reach each part of PLA’s continuing hegemonic deployment and building of new organised “villages” along the LAC.