Green norms stalling border roads: Army

Rajat Pandit

Alarmed at the excruciatingly slow progress in construction of border roads, Army wants infrastructure build-up within 50 km of the
Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China as well as Line of Control (LoC) with Pakistan to be exempted from requisite environmental and other clearances.

"Huge delays in getting environmental clearances are jeopardising national security. Construction of strategically important roads should be exempted from all this," said a senior officer.

While environmental activists are opposed to this proposal because of fragile ecosystems in the regions concerned, the Army contends that clearances under the Forest (Conservation) Act of 1980 and Wildife (Protection) Act of 1972 in some cases have been pending for a good four years or so.

"The government, in consultation with the environment ministry, had held in March 2006 that all cases of environmental clearances should be finalised in four months. But this is clearly not happening," said the officer.

Consequently, only 12 out of the 73 all-weather roads earmarked for construction along the unresolved 4,056-km LAC with China have actually been completed till now, as first reported by TOI.

"The 12 roads measure just around 520 km out of the total 3,808 km required for the 73 roads," said another officer.

In contrast, in addition to the already quite adverse combat ratio with China, Beijing has built several air, road and rail links in Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) over the last decade.

The People's Liberation Army can now mobilise well over two divisions (30,000 soldiers) from the hinterland to its "border launch pads" in less than three weeks now compared to the three-four months it would have taken earlier. China has also ramped up its strategic airlift capability by upgrading/building as many as 27 airstrips in TAR.

While India in recent years has shed its defensive mindset about road construction along the LAC, it has not translated into much concrete action on the ground.

The tedious process in getting environmental clearances as well as fund allocation has proved to be a major obstacle. "Manpower shortages in Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and locally-available labour in high-altitude areas have also contributed to the problem," the officer said.

Of the 73 roads, 61 are being constructed by BRO, while the rest have been allocated to CPWD and state PWDs. These roads cover all the three sectors of LAC -- western (Ladakh), middle (Uttarakhand, Himachal) and eastern (Sikkim, Arunachal) -- and include more east-west lateral links as well as better access routes to strategic peaks and valleys.

Twenty-seven of them fall in Arunachal, 19 in Uttarakhand, 14 in J&K, seven in Himachal and six in Sikkim. "They are needed to not only swiftly move troops, artillery and other equipment to border areas if required but also to strengthen our claim over disputed areas," the officer said.

India, of course, has taken other steps to strategically counter China's massive build-up of infrastructure along LAC. After reactivating western sector ALGs (advanced landing grounds) like Daulat Beg Oldi, Fukche and Nyama in eastern Ladakh, eastern sector ALGs like Pasighat, Mechuka, Walong, Tuting, Ziro and Vijaynagar as well as several helipads in Arunachal are now being upgraded.

Then, apart from beginning to deploy Sukhoi-30MKI fighters in the north-east, two new specialised infantry mountain divisions (over 30,000 soldiers) and an artillery brigade for Arunachal are also being raised.

Source:Times of India