Government of India will invest heavily in the construction of all-weather roads and some new tunnels to provide round-the-year connectivity to Army for its easy mobilization in ‘adverse’ areas of Jammu and Kashmir.
This was disclosed by Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, while interacting with media after inaugurating strategically important 592 meter long North India’s first cable suspension bridge ‘Atal Setu’ on Ravi River at Basholi in Kathua district situated on Dunera – Basholi – Bhadharwah road.
“The need of the hour is to provide all-weather connectivity to the areas affected by snowfall in winters,” Parrikar said.
“Right now BRO (Border Road Organization) is working on a plan to construct 20-25 new tunnels for which a survey is yet to be conducted,” he added.
“The idea behind opening of new routes is to provide better access to the Army throughout the state, without using traditional routes,” he said, adding, “these roads would also cater to the needs of local people and make them economically viable.”
“There is no financial problem for new projects in Defence sector but these projects should be technicaly feasible,” he added.
Complementing BRO for completing the cable stay bridge before scheduled date, Parrikar said, this year the BRO has completely come under the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and its efficiency has increased. Earlier it was under Ministry of Surface Transport.
“Now, we don’t need to go to other ministries to seek funds, which reduce the time and improve quality of works,” he said.
On influence of the IS on Indian youth, the defence Minister said that Centre has achieved success in reducing the influence of terror outfit Islamic State (IS) among Indian youth.
On a query related to alleged involvement of army personnel in a suspected espionage case involving Pakistan’s spy agency ISI, he said, “We had to tighten the security (intelligence) which we have already done”.
In the light of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Russia and the impending defence deal, Parrikar said that India’s relationship with Russia is not new. “We have never been away from Russia. Our relationship with Russia on the old contracts (Defence) was already there.”
“Though new contracts were less but now they are taken care of,” the Defence Minister added.
Earlier, Dr Jitendra Singh, MOS for Development of North-Eastern region and Minister of State for Prime Minister’s Office and Chaudhary Lal Singh, Health Minister, J&K Government and local MLA, Basholi during their address stressed the need to provide all weather connectivity to Bhadharwah-Doda-Anantnag. They also urged the Defence Minister to promote Basohli miniatures and Pashmina industry.
General Dalbir Singh, Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General KJ Singh, Army Commander, Western Command and Lieutenant General RM Mittal, Director General Border Roads, IGP Jammu Danish Rana, Div Commissioner Jammu Pawan Katwal among other civil and military officers were presented on the occasion.
