Rajnath inaugurates 36 BRO projects in Arunachal

ITANAGAR/SAMBA,

DEFENCE Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday virtually inaugurated 36 road and bridge projects in Arunachal Pradesh, including the strategically located Nechiphu tunnel connecting Tawang with Assam’s Balipara. The Defence Minister dedicated to the nation a total of 90 key border infrastructure projects across the country virtually from Jammu. The 90 projects of the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) along the Line of Actual Control with China are worth Rs 2,941 crore. Singh virtually inaugurated 22 roads, 63 bridges, Nechiphu tunnel, two airfields and two helipads across the nation, BRO officials said. Chief Minister Pema Khandu and Director General of Police Anand Mohan witnessed the event from Sessa in West Kameng district. The BRO has recently completed the construction of eight roads in Arunachal Pradesh along the LAC at a cost of Rs 678 crore.

Of the total projects dedicated to the nation by Singh, 11 are in Jammu and Kashmir, 26 in Ladakh, 36 in Arunachal Pradesh, five in Mizoram, three in Himachal Pradesh, two each in Sikkim, Uttarakhand and West Bengal and one each in Nagaland, Rajasthan, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The projects inaugurated in Arunachal Pradesh include eight road projects and 20 bridges. Situated at an altitude of 5,700 feet, Nechiphu tunnel on the Balipara-Charduar-Tawang road in West Kameng district is a unique D-shaped single-tube double-lane tunnel that will provide all-weather connectivity to the strategic Tawang region and will be beneficial for both armed forces and tourists, officials said. The tunnel will bypass the Nechiphu Pass, where extreme foggy conditions prevail, causing hindrance to general traffic and military convoys. “An architectural masterpiece, the strategically located tunnel will facilitate the swift movement of troops as well as citizens. Cutting a short distance by about 5 km, the tunnel will provide ease of travel and connectivity in the stretch that has dense fog,” Khandu said in X, formerly Twitter.

Underscoring the need for civil-military fusion, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday said all political parties are united when it comes to safeguarding the nation. He said the Government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi is committed to development of border areas as he lauded Border Roads Organisation (BRO) for completing major infrastructure projects over the past couple of years. “The BRO is a glaring example of civil-military fusion and its role in the development of infrastructure along the borders will be written in golden words. “The civil-military fusion is the need of the hour as safeguarding the country is not the responsibility of our armed forces alone but the civilians as well,” the Defence Minister said, addressing a function here. He quoted from Hindu religious texts and said, “We have to work together to safeguard our borders.” “It is heartening to say that we are getting full support from all to secure our borders… the projects which were completed are spread across states and UTs where different political parties are holding the power. “I want to congratulate everyone for the completion of these vital border projects. The strength of India is that when there is a challenge to our national security or a threat to Bharat Mata (mother India), all political parties set aside their ideological differences and come together to face the adversary,” the Defence Minister said.