New Delhi: Emphasising the significance of border infrastructure development, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said Wednesday that the Centre has operationalised the 335-kilometre long 220-kilovolt Srinagar-Leh Electricity Line, also known as Srinagar-Leh Transmission System, to connect border areas of Ladakh to the National Grid.
After making the announcement at the Border Area Development Conclave in New Delhi, Singh added that the transmission and distribution infrastructure in states in the Northeast is also being strengthened. “High-speed Internet has been provided to over 1,500 villages through BharatNet broadband project. In the last four years alone, more than 7,000 border villages have been provided with Internet connection and our focus has been on Ladakh and Arunachal Pradesh.”
Singh stressed that the government has been “fully committed” towards development of border villages.
Providing an estimate of the efforts put in by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) in the last ten years for the development of border areas, he said, “Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has constructed over 8,500 kilometres of roads and more than 400 permanent bridges. The Atal Tunnel, Sela Tunnel and Shinkun-La Tunnel (which is going to be the world’s highest tunnel), will prove to be milestones in border area development.”
Singh added that the ongoing efforts have not only ensured “prompt military deployments in sensitive regions”, but also “connected the people residing in border areas with the rest of the country”.
Emphasising that building roads, bridges and tunnels in border areas was imperative for national security, the defence minister said it was important to make the lives of the people in these border areas better, in collaboration with the respective state governments.
Village development, tourism promotion
Referring to the Vibrant Villages programme, Singh said the government’s objective was to transform the villages along the northern borders into ‘model villages’. He added that special focus was on villages in Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh, which have been reeling under limited connectivity and lack of proper infrastructure.
Singh also explained the role of the Army. “The government, along with the Indian Army, is ensuring the participation of people residing in border areas in their development.”
The government, he added, aims to promote tourism in border states. The influx of tourists, particularly in Ladakh, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh, had increased by 30 percent between 2020 and 2023, said Singh.
Moreover, there has been a significant increase in tourism in Kashmir, the defence minister said, adding that the government’s consistent efforts were aimed at turning Jammu & Kashmir from a “terrorist hotspot” to a “tourist hotspot”.
Speaking at the same event, Chief of Army Staff General Upendra Dwivedi said that the development of border areas was a core component of national security because of its strategic imperative. “Developed areas with strong economic or tourist activity act as a deterrence to the adversary. It basically discredits [the] adversary claims.”
(Edited by Radifah Kabir)
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