Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday lauded the service of the Border Road Organisation (BRO) and said that completing a project on time has become a ‘new normal’ for the people of the border areas due to commitment of the organisation.
“Your real achievement is that you made the difficult look easy, with your effort. The citizens of the country have stopped taking border area development as an achievement but it has become normal for them. Beginning an ambitious project and completing it on time is the new normal of New India,” Rajnath Singh, who arrived in Jammu to inaugurate and dedicate 90 Infrastructure Projects to the country constructed by Border Road Organisation (BRO) with a cost of Rs 2941 cr said on Tuesday.
He further said that the BRO should connect, not only the places with the help of the roads but the hearts of the people.
“Your job is not only to connect one place to another by building roads, but at the same time you also have to connect the hearts of people with your actions. I believe that construction should be such that it should be inspired by the spirit of for the people, of the people and by the people,” he said.
He further said that BRO, as an institution, will have to continuously work with the local bodies and the people in any project going on in the border areas.
“You involve them in your project, keep talking to them, understand their needs, and take input from them too. If you do this, their confidence will increase, and your work will also become easier,” he added.
He further called upon to work with the ‘mantra’ of minimum environmental degradation, and maximum national security and maximum welfare.
“Till now we have worked with the mantra of minimum investment and maximum value, but now we need to go further. Now we need to move forward with the mantra of minimum environmental degradation, and maximum national security and maximum welfare,” the union minister said.
Rajnath Singh arrived in Jammu earlier in the day and was received by Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha at the airport.
He will dedicate 90 infrastructure projects to the country constructed by Border Road Organisation (BRO) with a cost of Rs 2941 cr at a ceremony to be organized at Devak Bridge.
The projects have been constructed in 10 border States and UTs of the Northern and North-Eastern regions, the official statement read.
In a ceremony that will be organized by the Border Roads Organisation at Devak Bridge on Bishnah-Kaulpur-Phulpur Road in Jammu and Kashmir, Rajnath Singh will inaugurate 22 roads, 63 bridges, Nechiphu Tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh, two airfields in West Bengal and two helipads.
The BRO completed the construction of these critical strategic projects in a record time frame and many of these Projects have been constructed in a single working season using state-of-the-art technology.
Out of these projects, 11 have been constructed in Jammu and Kashmir, 26 in Ladakh, 36 in Arunachal Pradesh, 5 in Mizoram, 3 in Himachal Pradesh, 2 each in Sikkim, Uttarakhand and West Bengal, and 1 each in Nagaland, Rajasthan and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
In, 2021, 102 BRO infrastructure projects were dedicated to the Nation at a cost of Rs 2229 cr.
However, speaking further at the event, Singh said, “We all have to work together to protect India’s borders. And friends, we are getting everyone’s support in this.
You can also see examples of this in these projects, there are different ruling parties in many states, but we are all moving forward supporting each other in the construction of infrastructure in the border areas. On my behalf, I also congratulate all the state governments for this cooperation.”
The minister said that the contribution of the BRO will write a golden history in the border’s infrastructure.
“The way you have started developing infrastructure for the security of the country by coordinating the civil and military sectors, I think your collaboration will write many golden chapters in the matter of border infrastructure,” he added.
