Maximum effort being put into building border roads: Antony

"Maximum effort is being put into building the 73 Indo China border roads (ICBR) wherein 61 units have been moved to Jammu and Kashmir, seven in Himachal, 46 in Araunchal Pradesh and 21 in Sikkim," he said.

The Defence Minister's statement was regarding the status of the implementation of recommendations of the Standing Committee on Defence. The Minister said coordination meetings under Special Secretary in the Ministry were being held for expeditious execution of border roads construction.

He said the delays in obtaining forest clearances and inadequate availability of air effort were the main reasons behind delay in the commissioning of 116 roads of total length of 3,765 km under the Long Term Perspective Plan of border roads.

"Government has taken various steps to obviate these problems and the Environment Ministry has activated a single window clearance to clear the proposal of Border Roads Organisation (BRO) on priority," the Minister added.

Antony said the matter was deliberated at various levels and the Environment Ministry has set up a three-level single window clearance system at district, state and ministry level. "Environment Ministry teams will visit different states to sensitise teams at various levels see the progress in operationalisation of single window system. Ministry of Home Affairs is coordinating the issue to table a draft bill in the Parliament," he added.

The Defence Minister said incentives have been approved for contractors in high altitude areas, air efforts have been approved and recruitments have been increased for the BRO. The air-lift requirements of the BRO are fulfilled by the Indian Air Force and the Pawan Hans Private Limited.