Need more security, says Indian team working on Afghan highway

Faced with a pronounced increase in threat from regrouping Taliban forces, the Border Roads Organisation BRO today briefed Defence Minister

Faced with a pronounced increase in threat from regrouping Taliban forces, the Border Roads Organisation BRO today briefed Defence Minister A K Antony on the delicate security situation in Afghanistan8217;s Nimruz province, where it is building the crucial 217-km Delaram-Zaranj highway, a project that will be completed a year after its December 2007 deadline.

The project cost is also understood to have been revised from Rs 377 crore to above Rs 500 crore.

The BRO has managed to complete 50-km out of the 217-km highway that will connect Delaram to Zaranj on the Iran border 8212; the latter will connect to the Chah Bahar port in the Persian Gulf, allowing freight from India to Afghanistan and other countries and vice versa, without having to pass through Pakistan.

The 291 BRO workers are currently protected by 75 commandos from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police though this number has not been increased since November 2005 despite the BRO8217;s insistence that the workers need more personal security.

A security review of the project was conducted by BRO chief Lt Gen KS Rao in December last year, a month after one of the organisation8217;s drivers MR Kutty was abducted and killed by the Taliban.

The incident also compelled a review by the Cabinet Secretary of the overall security threat to Indian workers in Afghanistan.

Gen Rao recently said, 8220;The cost and time overrun has been because of the security situation. The road being built goes through the drug cultivation belt where there is huge resistance to the work being done by our men.8221;

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In fact, in the last 12 months, the BRO has been compelled to cut productivity by a third 8212; instead of two six-hour shifts, the workers only work daylight hours now on an eight-hour shift.

While the BRO has taken a firm stand not to increase manpower on the project, it has said that a force of 75 armed personnel is not sufficient especially since the commandos cannot be armed on the project sites, and are instead only to provide security at the areas where the workers stay.

BRO has called for an increase in the contribution of local authorities to provide on-site security.