Spurred by China, India to upgrade border roads

The ministry has recommended this road connectivity project to be incorporated in the Planning Commission’s Border Area Development Programme that focuses on improving educational, health and infrastructure along border areas.

“We are working on a plan to connect small towns near the international border with good roads, ranging from national highways to state roads or even new routes, if necessary. A two-lane upgraded national highway or a good state highway should help connect any important habitation in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir. We will be focusing on all other states along the international borders. Some areas of the Northeast may also be included in case the N-E special package has left it out,” said a senior official from the ministry.

The ministry will soon identify habitations along the Indo-China, Indo-Nepal and Indo-Pakistan border, falling in the three states. It is already conducting surveys for the same.

The project, added officials, will be a sizable one and developed on the lines of the Special Accelerated Road Development Programme (SARDP) for the Northeast. The SARDP will cover some 2,500 km of roads in the northeastern states with some very crucial border linkages towards Myanmar and Bangladesh.

The ministry has also recently revived plans to construct the Stilwell road that starts from Ledo in Assam into Myanmar and finally opens into China. The ministry also has plans to construct a bridge at Dawki on the Indo-Bangladesh border for improving traffic movement across the border. The SARDP(NE) will soon be extended from 1,300 km it covers right now to 2,500 km.