Insights into the Border Roads Organization in India – I07 | New video every Friday! Subscribe here: https://bit.ly/3CUJDvh
About this Episode
💻Border Roads Organization 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.
On 04th January 2022, Lt Gen Ravi Shankar, PVSM (Retd), Former Director General of the Border Road Organization, in an interview with Capt. Pawanjit Ahluwalia – Moderator NISSMAT – provides a deep insight to this organization and its functioning. The interview was also attended by – Maj Gen DK Mehta (Retd.)
What this session covered
This session took the form of a conversation in which a host put questions to a single speaker with detailed knowledge of the Border Roads Organisation. The speaker set out the organisation's role in building and maintaining roads across remote and high-altitude frontier regions, describing a tradition of service in both peacetime and operational conditions, and referred to its presence in areas including the North-East, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh. The organisation's provision of operational and logistic support was noted, along with its position among the ministries concerned with home affairs, defence and road transport.
Much of the discussion concerned how the work is actually carried out. The speaker described the organisation's internal structure of engineering units and construction companies, and its use of both permanent personnel and hired labour. A distinction was drawn between departmental, in-house construction and work carried out through contractors, and it was suggested that in remote border locations where contractors are reluctant to operate the organisation relies on its own personnel to complete the work. A comparison was drawn with the contractor-led model used elsewhere in national road construction. The speaker also described the use of temporary bridging as a means of speeding construction, later replaced by permanent structures, and the organisation's role in disaster response, including restoring road access after flooding and an earthquake.
The conversation extended to projects beyond India's own territory. The speaker discussed road construction undertaken in Bhutan and a strategic road built in Afghanistan under difficult conditions, and touched on how such work bears on regional connectivity and on alternatives to existing supply routes. The discussion also addressed how road alignments are decided, the cost implications of altering an alignment once fixed, and the strategic value of being able to reach points along the frontier more quickly.
Key points raised
- The session was a question-and-answer conversation between a host and one speaker with detailed knowledge of the Border Roads Organisation.
- The speaker described the organisation's role in constructing and maintaining roads across remote and high-altitude border regions.
- The discussion distinguished in-house departmental construction from contractor-led work, noting reliance on the organisation's own personnel where contractors are reluctant to operate.
- Temporary bridging was described as a way of speeding construction, later replaced by permanent structures.
- The organisation's disaster-response role was discussed, including restoring access after flooding and an earthquake.
- Overseas projects in Bhutan and Afghanistan were discussed, along with how road alignments are decided and their strategic significance.
