Six bridges of military importance get inaugurated in Jammu-Kashmir

New Delhi: – Defence Minister Raj Nath Singh inaugurated six strategically important bridges through videoconferencing. Amid tension on both the Pakistan and China borders, the Border Road Organisation (BRO) has completed the work on these six bridges, in record time. The Defence Minister praised the soldiers from the BRO, for the achievement. BRO has been assigned the work of 17 bridges in strategically important locations. The six completed bridges are a part of the same project.

Defence Minister Raj Nath Singh expressed confidence ‘Six bridges built by the BRO, in Jammu-Kashmir, are being dedicated to the nation. BRO has completed the work on these bridges in record time and these bridges will be of great use to the defence forces, in strategically important locations. They will help in the development of inaccessible regions.’

Four of the six bridges built by the BRO are in the Akhnoor Sector and the other two are in Jammu-Sector. The third big bridge has been built on the Samba-Kathua road, at Hiranagar, which lies close to the border.

The villagers on the India-Pakistan border have to face firing from the Pakistan side regularly. The bridges will be helpful for the villagers in such situations. The villagers will be able to reach safer places, within minutes, using these bridges. Five more smaller bridges are being built on this road. The people from Samba, Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Amritsar districts also will benefit from these bridges, along with Kathua district.

BRO will be building 17 bridges in Jammu-Kashmir and six bridges, out of these, have been completed. Five more bridges will be completed by the next month and the remaining bridges will be completed by March 2021.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Raj Nath Singh clarified that despite the Coronavirus pandemic the government ensured that there was no shortage of resources to the BRO. The BRO budget was between ₹3.5 to ₹4.5 billion, during the period 2008 to 2016. But the budget for the year 2019 and 2020, has crossed ₹8.0 billion. The Defence Minister also pointed out that the provision for BRO, for the year 2020-21 is ₹11.80 billion.