Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Mar 1: In a major boost towards infrastructure development, Army had identified 14 strategic railway lines, two of them in Ladakh, bordering China with Final Location Survey (FLS) scheduled to be undertaken very shortly on Bilaspur-Mandi-Manali-Leh line even as Governor N N Vohra has asked the BRO to expedite work on major National Highways, strategic roads and prepare DPRs for six new tunnels in Jammu and Kashmir to link remote and sensitive areas with rest of the State.
Official sources told the Excelsior that the Army has identified a total of 14 rail lines as ‘strategic rail lines’, which required immediate construction from the defence point of view and majority of them fall along China border as India has already covered Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal borders through the rail link.
“Of 14 lines, two have been identified in Leh district of Ladakh region in Jammu and Kashmir. One of them, Bilaspur-Mandi-Manali-Leh has been prioritized for undertaking Final Location Survey,” sources said.
The rail line, according to sources, would go a long way in helping easy movement of Army and their weaponry along the LAC with China. Worthwhile to mention here that infrastructure development has been badly lacking on India side of the LAC with China.
Meanwhile, sources said, the Border Roads Organization (BRO) has been constructing 40 all weather dependable roads along the International Border (IB) with Pakistan and Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China and other areas in planned and phased manner to provide all weather connectivity to security forces.
“At present BRO has 40 roads of 2970.62 Km length under construction / up-gradation and additional 13 roads of length 282.49 Km under maintenance only to provide connectivity to the border areas in Ladakh region,” sources said.
“The BRO is also constructing Rohtang tunnel in Himachal Pradesh to provide all weather road connectivity in Ladakh region. An operational committee in the Ministry of Railways has been constituted to monitor time line for FLS. For road networks various initiatives at functional level are undertaken by BRO to expedite the infrastructure development,” they added.
Meanwhile, Governor NN Vohra has asked the BRO Director General Lt Gen Suresh Sharma during a high level meeting here on Sharma’s two-day visit to Jammu, to prepare Detailed Project Reports (DPRs) and feasibility reports for six tunnels in Jammu and Kashmir to connect strategic and remote areas with rest of the State throughout the year.
The tunnels included Chattergala along Bani-Bhaderwah road, Rajdhan to connect Bandipore-Gurez, Sadhna in Chowkibal-Tanghdar road, Z-Gali in Machhil sector and Fadkiyanwali Gali in Kupwara.
Lt Gen Sharma had extensive meetings with the Governor, Northern Army Command chief Lt Gen DS Hooda, Chief Secretary BR Sharma, Commissioner/ Secretary (Works) Rohit Kansal and top officials of BRO, National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) among others.
In his meeting with the Governor, Advisor Parvez Dewan and Principal Secretary P K Tripathy were also present along with Chief Engineer, Project Sampark Brigadier B Bhattacharyya and other BRO officials.
The Governor appreciated the re-energized efforts of the BRO projects in the State in providing high quality roads and connectivity in the region.
Vohra called upon the officials to ensure that the bottlenecks faced by the BRO in construction of roads including clearance by the Forest Department, acquisition of land etc were cleared expeditiously so that work didn’t suffer and the BRO was able to do its job speedily.
It may be mentioned here that the Centre Government including the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) have been pressing for expeditious construction of rail and road links right up to the borders with China and Pakistan from strategic point of view.
Both the Ministries want free and easy movement of Army and para-military forces right up to the borders as presently they were facing difficulties in some areas especially along the China border due to lack of infrastructure development.
An official handout said the Governor was apprised of the status of maintenance and ongoing works on Jammu-Poonch National Highway (NH 144A); Basohli-Bani Bhaderwah Road; Batote-Kishtwar road (NH 244); Parimpora–Shalteng-Narbal part of NH1 (Leh-Srinagar-Baramulla-Uri) road and Baramulla-Rafiabad-Kupwara-Tanghdar roads.
The Governor observed that keeping in view the strategic and economic importance of NH 144A, the road from Akhnoor onwards which is under the control of BRO is required to be developed to National Highway standards by carrying out major improvements such as cross drainage works, surfacing and geometrics.
The Governor directed expeditious up-gradation of Basohli-Bani-Bhaderwah road and other related improvements in order to make this road an effective alternate connection to Chenab Valley and onwards to Kashmir. Once completed this road will provide an all weather alternate corridor to Chenab Valley, tourists and Shri Amarnathji Yatra pilgrims,” he said.
The Governor was informed that snow is being cleared near Simthan Pass and 9 km of road stretch from Achabal to Donipawa on Batote-Kishtwar road is also being widened. The Governor directed timely completion of snow clearance work to make the road trafficable well in time.
The Governor directed that four laning of Parimpora-Shalteng-Narbal road sanctioned under Prime Minister’s Reconstruction Programme and development works on Srinagar-Sonamarg sector must be completed on priority. He also reviewed the work of up-gradation of Srinagar-Uri-LoC road, double laning of Srinagar-Leh road via Kargil, Uri-Kamanpost road, and work on the Nimu Padam Darcha road.
The Governor discussed the need to improve and widen the Mughal Road links from Bafliaz to Rajouri and to Surankote for encouraging traffic on this alternate route connecting Kashmir valley to the rest of the country. The upto date status of maintenance and up-gradation of roads in the border towns by BEACON and SAMPARK and various other important and critical roads maintained by BRO were also discussed in the meeting.
The Governor urged Parvez Dewan, Advisor to the Governor, to fix timelines for land acquisition process on these important road projects and asked DG BRO to direct all his officers to maintain close co-ordination with Commissioner PWD. The Governor also reiterated his earlier directions that Commissioner PWD should hold monthly review meeting to resolve all issues pertaining to land acquisition and other impediments, if any, in timely implementation of all National Highways and other important road works.
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