NEW DELHI: The onset of summer has initiated the reopening of strategic road links to border areas like Leh even as the COVID-19 lockdown continues but the Border Roads Organisation (BRO), mandated to construct, repair and maintain these lifelines, is suffering from a major manpower shortage.
“The BRO opened the strategic Srinagar-Leh highway that connects Ladakh and 18 oil tankers and other essential commodities were allowed to move towards Leh/Ladakh from Zojila Pass. This was managed despite fresh snowfall in the pass,” said the Ministry of Defence (MoD) on Sunday. The 425 kilometre road was closed since December due to heavy snowfall at Zojila Pass.
The MoD said the BRO is understaffed by over 20 per cent. “Against the authorised strength of 2426 officers and 39174 subordinates, the existing force level in BRO is 1791 officers and 31718 subordinates,” the MoD told the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence.
There is a total shortage of 8091 personnel, 635 officers and 7456 other staff. The committee's report was placed before Parliament in the Budget Session.
On the question of measures being taken to address the shortage, the MoD informed that 9082 posts are being filled in a phased manner. The BRO has advertised for 1655 vacancies and the recruitment is under process. A request to fill 2046 vacancies for different posts has been placed with the Staff Selection Commission (SSC) for the year 2019 and 118 vacancies against compassionate appointment are also under process.
The committee has called for fresh recruitments to be expedited and that they be apprised within three months of the presentation of the report.
These roads are lifelines for residents and troops in border areas and the BRO is concentrating simultaneously on the northern and north-eastern frontiers. For the holistic development of roads in these areas, a five-year (2018-23) Long Term Roll on Works Plan (LTRoWP) has been approved for the construction/improvement of 265 roads of length 14224.12 km, 4 Ditch cum Bund (DCB) of length 353.22 km and 4 bridges. These constructions will benefit 13 states of the country.
It is through roads that rations, fuel, civil supplies as well as military ammunition are sent. “Otherwise everything has to be airlifted and that too will depend upon availability of landing strips and air dropping cannot sustain population and military deployed in these areas,” said an officer.
While during winters, the roads are cut off due to snowfall, the monsoon season also creates a major stress on road connectivity as roads at many places get washed away, said the officer, adding that with adequate human resources, maintenance and repair will take place on time.