💻Border Roads Organization (BRO) is an important Agency of the Ministry of Defence for construction of roads & bridges in the border areas and also their maintenance. These roads are important links to provide operational and logistic support to the troops deployed in forward areas along the borders of India.
What this session covered
This session was a moderated conversation between two retired Army general officers: one a former head of the Border Roads Organisation, the other a senior commander who had relied on its roads in Jammu and Kashmir, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh. The first speaker described the organisation, formed in 1960, as holding both a peacetime role of building roads along India's borders and a defined wartime role, recalling that its task forces moved with the Army in the 1965 and 1971 operations and opened the Zojila pass ahead of expectation during the Kargil conflict. He outlined its structure of 18 projects headed by chief engineers, with task forces, road and bridge construction companies and platoons beneath them, a strength of about 35,000 supplemented by roughly 70,000 hired labourers, and a civilian component, the General Reserve Engineering Force, whose members wear uniform under the Army Act under a model dating from the Second World War.
The discussion distinguished the organisation from the National Highways Authority of India: it owns its plant and personnel, can work in places contractors refuse to go, and in wartime only its own forces can accompany the Army, although it increasingly supervises contracted work as well. The speakers acknowledged that temporary Bailey bridges, launched to keep construction moving in the mountains, often remain in place for long periods and restrict the traffic a road can carry, and that replacement with permanent bridges is under way. Tasking and priorities, it was explained, come mainly from the Army's General Staff branch, with the Border Roads Development Board described as having become largely defunct and the organisation now functioning directly under the Ministry of Defence.
On disaster response, the first speaker recounted the September 2011 Sikkim earthquake, after which the road to Gangtok was cleared by midday the following day, well ahead of the timelines others were discussing; the second speaker recalled a 1984 cloudburst in Arunachal Pradesh after which a severed road was restored within a month. The conversation then turned to work abroad: a presence in Bhutan since 1961, where the organisation now competes with foreign contractors, and the Delaram–Zaranj road in Afghanistan, built to international standards and described as offering a supply route into Afghanistan through Iran. The session closed with discussion of a recently completed high-altitude road in Ladakh, described as the world's highest motorable road, which the speakers said improves access towards the Demchok area and strengthens border defence.
Key points raised
- The Border Roads Organisation, formed in 1960, has both peacetime and wartime roles: its task forces moved with the Army in the 1965 and 1971 operations and opened the Zojila pass ahead of expectation during the Kargil conflict.
- It is deployed as 18 projects under chief engineers, with a strength of about 35,000 supplemented by roughly 70,000 hired labourers; its civilian GREF component wears uniform under the Army Act, a model dating from the Second World War.
- Unlike the National Highways Authority of India, it owns its plant and personnel and can work where contractors refuse to go; in wartime only its own forces can move with the Army.
- Tasking and priorities come mainly from the Army's General Staff branch; the Border Roads Development Board was described as largely defunct, and the organisation now works directly under the Ministry of Defence.
- After the September 2011 Sikkim earthquake the road to Gangtok was cleared by midday the following day, well ahead of the timelines others were discussing.
- Overseas, the organisation has worked in Bhutan since 1961 and built the Delaram–Zaranj road in Afghanistan, described as providing a supply route into the country through Iran.
Session transcript
This transcript is auto-generated from the session recording and lightly edited for punctuation and readability; it may contain transcription errors. The video remains the authoritative record.
Read the full transcript
Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Today we have a very interesting topic to discuss, and that is we're going to discuss the insights into the Border Roads Organization in India. To discuss this subject we have two very illustrious individuals with us: Lt General Ravi Shankar, who's been the head of the Border Roads Organization in India and has the complete knowledge of how this organization functions. We then have Major General Deepakba, who's been a consumer of the services that have been provided by the Border Roads Organization. So I jump in straight away with the first question that I have. What is the role of the Border Roads Organization? Ravi.
Thank you Pavan for getting me on this show. It is always nice to talk about the border roads and let people know what all they are doing. To start with, I'll say it's a unique national asset with a very sound tradition of service, honor and sacrifice, and many, not just the army, even civilians have traveled on border roads and have been fascinated by it. Coming specifically to the role, it is unique because it has a role in peace and it has a role in wartime also. In peace, they're building all these roads along the borders. In fact, they were formed in 1960 just for this.
Along with this, whenever there are operations there are definite roles given to each task force to move with formations in whichever areas they are. So all this has happened in the 65 operations, in the 71 operations. They have moved with the army to open up roads even across the borders, and even in Kargil they had a role in war when they opened the Zojila pass against time, much much before anybody expected it to open, and that's how the forces reached there, surprised the enemy, and after that it was a different story altogether. So that's what makes them unique.
Ravi, I have a question. You have the engineers who also open roads and make roads. You at the core of engineers, and you have then the border roads, which is again a combination of civilians and officers from the GRE and the armed forces. Could you just explain as to how does the Border Roads Organization function?
See, the Border Roads Organization is only for roads and bridges construction. So they have more expertise than the army as far as this, and they have a different kind of equipment, while the combat engineers are much lighter in equipment and they can move much faster. So the roles are totally different. As far as the border roads are concerned, they are deployed as 18 projects. Now these projects are all headed by a chief engineer, and they cover the entire borders, right starting from the deserts, going into J&K, going to Himachal, Uttarakhand, and thereafter Sikkim and the northeast.
And these 18 projects have their own task forces, which you can say is the equivalent of battalions, or you can say they are commanded by colonels, or SCs if they are civilians. And these task forces have their companies, the road construction company and the bridge construction companies, and below them there are platoons. Now these platoon companies are actually either meant to construct roads or make bridges, that's it. And once deployed, they have their own plant and equipment and they have hired labor. Now the strength of the border roads is about 35,000 and the hired labor is about 70,000. That's the scale of the hired labor, and both combined together and work.
It is also called GREF, a General Reserve Engineering Force. This is a term that has come up from the Second World War, when the road to Ledo was made. It required a huge amount of manpower. So they had put civilians temporarily in uniform so that they were under the army act and they could continue. So that model has continued. So the civilians in the border roads are also wearing uniform and they are under the army act, and they work together to do this. In terms of equipment and all, it's like any other construction agency, only in the hills your equipment has to be a little lighter because you have to reach very difficult areas.
General, you've been a consumer of the services that the model of the organization has provided. How do you rate the services of the border roads?
I have a very great regards for the border roads, the way they functioning. I have seen them operating in J&K and Arunachal Pradesh and also in Sikkim. They are on the job 24 hours, be the road construction, road maintenance, you know, sorting out the landslides on the road. In Sikkim, I'm aware of the fact there was a landslide and the civil organization said there couple of months to open up. Ravi was spoken to about it, and in 19 hours the road was open to the traffic. And whenever we had any problems, they were always on the job to help us out, and I can say without any reservations that the border road is a lifeline for the troops deployed in front, both operationally and for logistic support.
I have a great regards for them. You know, Zojila pass normally opens on a particular date and there's a snow of about 8 to 10 ft on either side, and they open the road and the first convoy goes through. Where there are landslides, they're fully marked, and the plant is around so that if the landslide take place they open out, and straight away there's never been a hold up in the border roads. I have great regards for them.
Okay. Ravi, what differentiates the border roads from other road construction organizations such as the National Highway Authority of India?
See, the National Highways Authority of India does work through contract, and they give tenders to contractors. The contractors come and construct. The border roads has its own equipment. It has its own staff. Along with this, they also do things in contract. They also use labor. So, it is an organization which constructs on its own and also does contract. So, there are a lot of places where contractors just refuse to go. The border roads with its own people can reach out to those places and they can work there. In fact, more roads have initially been made by border roads own task forces. Nowadays, yes, contractors are venturing out and part of the work is done by contract. They're trying to give as much more to contract so that they can get the roads moving fast.
The border roads is taking in contracted labor and also taking in contracted companies to do a part of the job. So there's not too much of a differentiator today between the border roads and other road construction organizations. Am I right in when I say this?
No. Let me give you a situation which is not peace but in war. What will go with the army during war would only be the border roads and not contracted labor. Now this is part of the border roads. There are 35,000 personnel in the border roads who can manage labor and get the job done themselves. Even the contractor gets job done by managing labor. So all this can be done by the border roads in-house. In addition, we also give contracts where a contractor can reach and do a job and we supervise the contract. So an RCC company would be doing its own construction, along with that it would be supervising a few contracts also. Both happened simultaneously.
Ravi, there has been a situation in the past where a lot of bridges that were Bailey bridges were constructed by the Border Roads Organization, whereas the roads that were constructed were, let's say, you know, they were for a larger tonnage, whereas the Bailey bridges restricted the use of the roads to a certain heaviness of the traffic. How is this anomaly going to be rectified?
In the plains, if you make a road you can have a number of attack points. You can start the road at ABC places along the road and put task forces all along. In the mountains you can't do that. It is very difficult to access a point unless you make a road up to that point. So if a nala comes, I have to cross the nala quickly and start constructing beyond, so I can't wait for a permanent bridge. So I launch a bridge quickly, and that is the Bailey bridge. So during construction this Bailey bridge becomes very essential, where you bridge the nalas temporarily, go ahead and work. That is the only way to speed up work. But later in time these Bailey bridges are replaced by permanent bridges. What happens is sometimes that takes a lot of time and you find these Bailey bridges remain for a long time, and that is what you see along the roads, Bailey bridges which are slowly being replaced by permanent bridges.
You know, they are being slowly replaced, but the operational ability of the road decreases considerably because the Bailey bridge itself has a certain restrictive ability.
Yeah, you're right on that count. But these are things which they discuss with the local commanders and try and make it as good as possible for the local commanders. But I agree with you that these bridges have a restriction, so there's a need to go on to better bridges, which is something which they are attempting now.
What are the challenges that are faced by the Border Roads Organization?
Yeah, huge huge challenges. If there was no challenge, there would be no border roads, because where civilians can go, they don't need the border roads. And where the border roads go, the civilians normally don't go, because it's high altitude, it's cold, it is deserts, it is far away from any place where people live, and these are the first roads in those areas. So there is a lot of uncertainty in the places where these people work, and once border roads opens up, that's when others venture into those areas and others start functioning. So any challenge that comes out of an adventure of going into difficult places unexplored before are faced by the border roads.
Ravi, who decides as to what roads have to be built and what roads need not be built? Who gives the priority? Who decides as to what is the task that the border road needs to execute?
This is a function of the army GS branch, who make out a plan as to what the roads are and what the priorities are. There may be a few roads which are being constructed for the ministry of road and surface transport. In that case they say we want this road made at so and so place, otherwise the majority of the tasking is done by the GS branch.
In the earlier times the border roads were being instructed to the Border Roads Development Board. Nowadays the Border Roads Development Board has almost become defunct or is probably not there. And at that particular point of time you had secretaries from the ministry of home, the ministry of defense, the ministry of roads and transport, the environment ministry, and the cabinet secretary also in attendance. So in the earlier times the border roads was given a lot of importance. Has the importance reduced over a period of time?
The importance of the border roads has not reduced. It was just that initially when the border roads was working, it was working in remote areas where it required more assistance from, let us say, the local administrations and such other things. So to make it convenient they required forest clearances, they required clearances from the home ministry. So all this, to make it easy, initially we had a group which did all this together, but slowly this was not functioning too well, and now it has come directly under the ministry of defense. It's functioning well now, because most of the roads are GS roads, the number of roads with the ministry of road transport have reduced, and it's functioning better now.
One of the jobs that the border roads is asked to do is also be first responders in times of floods and earthquakes. How does this border road organization tie up with the national disasters management board?
Border roads definitely are first responders. Whenever an earthquake takes place or floods takes place, where bridges are washed away, the disaster management forces come and mesh up with whoever is on the ground. The first responders invariably are the air force and things like that, but what they can supply is limited to what aircrafts can carry, and that's very little. The actual resources flow in only when the roads and bridges are through.
So let me give you an example of the Sikkim earthquake which Deepak mentioned. This earthquake occurred around 6:00 in the evening. It was in September 2011, 18th September 2011 I think. And when it occurred, it was a huge earthquake and nobody really knew what was happening, and as long as stones are falling, nobody can do anything. Now I got calls from all over that the disaster management forces have been mobilized and things like that. And they asked if anything else has to be carried to that place. I said no, the work has to be done there. But by midnight you had the disaster managing force waiting at the end of the road, the coronation bridge, and checking with me as to when will the road be open. So we told them the stones are still falling, we can't even start working.
Around 4:00 in the morning when the stones stopped falling, whoever was there, wherever he was, started clearing, and by 12:00 the road was cleared. It was only after that that the rest of the task forces could go to Gangtok and go beyond. So everybody is talking to each other at that time. All the forces are independently mobilized, but the people on the ground in a situation like this are the border roads, who have to respond first. Like Deepak said, when we open the road to Gangtok by lunchtime the next day, it was quite a surprise, because everybody was talking about 6 weeks, 8 weeks and much much more.
Around 1984 there was a cloud burst in Arunachal Pradesh and West Kameng district was totally cut off. I was sent on a patrol to see the damage done. There were large number of places where the road ceased to exist. There were landslide and the road ceased to exist. But I can assure you, within one month the road was made and traffic started moving up to Tena. It was a fantastic response of the border road organization.
Generally whenever India wants to be doing something overseas and construction is required to be done, the border roads are frequently called upon to assist. There have been two cases in recent memory: one, border roads has been doing a lot of work in Bhutan, and the other was in Afghanistan. Can you give us a sense of what you've done in both these countries?
See, Bhutan, the task force in the project in Bhutan was started in 1961, almost a year, within a year of the border roads actually starting, and that's when the first vehicles went to Bhutan. Before that they hadn't seen any vehicles; people had to go by mules to Bhutan. And I was there in Bhutan in the Golden Jubilee year, that was 2011, and I remember I'd met the prime minister then, Jigme Thinley, his excellency Jigme Thinley, and he was very candid to say that he went to school sitting in a border roads vehicle. So he would go from there down the hills and go for studying. So everything that happened in Bhutan happened thanks to the border roads being opened up.
In fact, he went to the extent of saying that the best ambassadors to Bhutan are the border roads, and he said it in front of the ambassador there, and the ambassador was grinning away. That is how they value the work done by the border roads, and that continues even today. Today, since most of the roads have been made, they have options of getting other contractors to do it, contractors from other countries to come and do it. So today border roads are actually competing with foreign contractors for contracts in Bhutan and working, but there are still some areas where only they can work. So this is Bhutan.
And then you asked about Afghanistan. Yes, Afghanistan is another unique project, where they made a road from Delaram to Zaranj. When they started the road, people in Afghanistan said you cannot make it. When they finished it, nobody believed that it was done. They actually went on the road to see it. Now, this is a very strategic road that was made. It has been made to international standards, and this actually gives a better option to supply most of Afghanistan from Iran. So you come to the port, you come to Iran and come, and that is an easier way to reach Afghanistan than go all the way through Pakistan. So it is a very strategic road, again built under very difficult circumstances, and the Taliban there actually permitted the border roads to work. Except for one incident, I think, they allowed them to work, and it is something, it is historical, that road.
And now let me ask you a question again. The road in Afghanistan was built from place A to place B. Who decided the alignment of the road?
Place A to place B is decided, it is decided by the foreign ministry. It is decided at the highest level. Now selecting the route from place A to place B is a part of the border roads thing. Deciding how much of work is involved is their job, and they may be given certain ruling points saying this road should touch this point, this point. These are given. After that the roads have to be selected by you. Very often it follows an old alignment. Very often the old alignment is not adequate and you have to find a new alignment. So in all roads the alignments will definitely be selected by the border roads.
General, if there was one advice that you had to give to the border roads, what would that be?
I think that question is best answered by Ravi himself, because he knows the integrities of the border roads. But as far as we are concerned, with the users, when we require, we pass it on the channel of command, and at some point at the highest level, it is as Ravi said, it's a GS branch job. They decide, all right, this is what is going to be executed.
Does the alignment get changed by the bureaucracy?
See, if the alignment gets changed by the bureaucracy, it is going to be a very expensive decision. These roads cost 3 to four crores a kilometer. In high altitude, it costs much more. So if somebody changes the alignment and is willing to pay for it, we'll gladly change the alignment. But nobody can even venture to change alignments. Yes, initially when you're planning there may be suggestions to go from place A to place B to place C. But once work has started, it's not easy to change alignments.
One more point. I must compliment the border roads for having constructed the road at the highest, road in the world, motorable road, at the height of 19,300 ft, and it's a tremendous road in the world. Ravi.
Yes. You're talking of Umlingla. This is just been done. The road is at 19,024 ft and it is the highest motorable road in the world. It's going into all sorts of books of records.
What is the strategic importance of this road?
True. The strategic importance is, now that Pangong is active, you can reach places along that border much faster. So it actually connects a place called Demchok, which is on the side of the Indus River, overlooking those areas. Now if you're generally familiar with the layout, you have Khardungla Pass to the west, you have Pangong to the east of Leh, and then further south along Pangong is Demchok, an area where not so many roads exist, so it takes a long time to reach. Now you can reach there much faster. So it has enhanced the capability of our country to defend its borders much better. Yes, that is true with every role of the border roads.
Thank you very much Ravi. Thank you very much Deepak Mata for your insights and comments on the border road organization. I think we've discussed today one of the most important organizations in our country, which needs to be given proper recognition for the effort that they have been doing, and last year they constructed the tunnel under the Rohtang pass, which is a marvel by itself. And I thank you both once again. Thanks. Thank you. Thank you so much.
