NEW DELHI: In the midst of impasse and confabulation between armies of India and China in the Doklam area at Sikkim-Bhutan-Tibet tri-junction, an official report suggests all is not well along the border roads leading to China as most of these were not fit for running of specialised vehicles.
All these despite incurring an expenditure of Rs 4536 crore. Such a state of affairs may be debated aggressively between the ruling and opposition parties during the ensuing monsoon session of Parliament and also in some parliamentary panels like Public Accounts Committee, sources said.
“Road works executed by the BRO did not adequately meet the users requirement. Even six roads which had been completed at a cost of Rs. 164 crore, were not fit for running of specialised vehicles/equipments due to limitations in execution of works.
Deployment of GREF personnel was done in remote and hazardous working locations without adequate facilities,” said the report of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) tabled in Parliament in March this year.
“This non-completion and faulty specifications of works have a serious bearing on the operational capability of the armed forces in strategically sensitive areas,” said the report while indications are now on that the ruling BJP and the opposition parties like the Congress and the Trinamool Congress could be heading for yet another round of standoff on the issue and preparedness along border areas during ensuing monsoon session of Parliament.
An opposition member of Parliament has said that they would prefer Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to take suo-motto cognizance of the CAG report ‘Construction of Indo-China Border Roads by Border Roads Organisation (BRO)’.
“Some of the observations made by the CAG are serious. Completion of roads was considerably delayed in spite of significance imparted to Indo China Border Roads (ICBRs) and the works faced various technical, financial as well as quality issues. We want things to be examined closely,” a Trinamool Congress MP said here.
The Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) headed by the Prime Minister had emphasised the time-bound completion of the Indo China border roads due to their strategic importance. As of March 2016, an expenditure of Rs 4,536 crore against an estimated cost of Rs 4,643 crore was incurred for 61 ICBRs (total targeted road length of 3,409.29 km).
However, only 36 per cent — 22 roads having a length of 707.24 km had been completed. The opposition sources have said that there have been instances wherein Reconnaissance, Survey and Trace Cut (RSTC) was not carried out properly.
The CAG report also said that there “were numerous instances of defective construction of roads” on account of unsuitable design, steep gradient, defective alignment, turning radius problems, improper contract management, poor riding conditions, inadequate drainage facilities, non-connectivity of roads and abandonment of executed works.
“Moreover, it was found that the plans at various levels had not been framed realistically,” the Trinamool source has alleged. Amid the eyeball to eyeball standoff at Doklam area and Indian Defence Minister Arun Jaitley asserting that India of 2017 – the contemporary setting under Prime Minister Narendra Modia was different than the India of 1962, Mr Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping interacted informally at Hamburg on the sidelines of the G20 Summit.
In fact, Indian Prime Minister appreciated “momentum in BRICS” under the Chairmanship of China, for his part the Chinese President Xi Jinping appreciated India’s strong resolve against terrorism and lauded India’s success in economic and social development.
“President Xi appreciated India’s strong resolve against terrorism and the momentum in BRICS introduced under India’s Chairmanship and through the outcomes of the Goa Summit in 2016.
He also appreciated India’s success in economic and social development and wished India even bigger success,” an official release from the Indian Ministry of External Affairs has said.
The BJP sources have maintained that the Defence ministry and the Central government are well seized of the matters raised in the CAG report.
“But most of the observations related to 2012 works…All aspects are being looked into,” a BJP source said. In order to facilitate the effective border management, security and development of infrastructure in inaccessible areas adjoining the China Border, a total of 73 strategically important roads were identified by the Government as Indo China Border Roads (ICBRs).
Out of these 73 ICBRs, execution of 61 roads having a total length of 3409.27 km with estimated costs of Rs. 4644 crore were entrusted to the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) with their targeted completion by 2012.
A senior BJP leader said, “there have been enough folly in country’s security set up in last 60 years”. Despite 1962 fiasco, he alleged border roads were not improved.
“Even the belated realisation by 2007 has not quite resulted in major improvement of the road conditions leading to China borders. BJP is against doing politics on defence matters,” he said trying to make veiled attack on the Congress-led previous dispensations.
Sources point out that out of 73 such projects, 61 India-China Border Roads were scheduled to be completed by 2012. But by 2016 only 22 had been completed – “with lot of limitations” despite massive cost overruns.
Sources said only 15 roads had been completed by 2012 and out of remaining 46, only 7 roads were completed by March 2016.
The issue of escalated expenditures could soon turn into a major issue as the CAG report maintained that Rs 4536 crore or about 98 per cent of estimated cost amount of Rs 4644 crore for 61 projects have been spent and the works completed account for just 36 per cent. The CAG report also has said that there were “delays in submission and approval of Annual Works Plan”.
“As a result, the Budget Estimates for each year were prepared on an ad-hoc basis and the jobs were executed even before the approval of Annual Works Plan (AWPs) by the Border Roads Development Board basing it on the AWP projections,” the CAG report has said. (AGENCIES)
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