Defence roads face green block

NEW  DELHI: Thanks to the environment ministry’s reluctance to give clearances, construction of 73 strategic road links along the Indian side of the unresolved 4,056-km Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China has hit a roadblock, critically undermining the country’s capability to thwart aggression in the eastern sector.The latest report of the Parliamentary Committee on Defence said: “While the ministry of defence has recognized the need for development of infrastructure as well as operational capabilities to achieve desired preparedness, particularly in the context of the huge infrastructure construction activities of our neighbouring countries including China, the delay in forest and wildlife clearances has been an impediment in this regard.”The defence ministry has been trying to expedite the process but 172 environmental clearance requests for various critical roads remain pending at the MoEF. “There are 12 forest or wildlife cases waiting for clearance for construction of Indo-China Border Roads (ICBRs) and 160 for other than the ICBRs,” the defence ministry told the Parliamentary Committee. Many of these roads pass through Kaziranga National Park, Nameri National Park and Orang Wildlife Sanctuary.The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has received sanction for construction of 73 roads along the unresolved LAC  but only 12 have been completed.The Indian Army has already raised two mountain divisions specialising in high altitude warfare to be deployed in the north-eastern region, but the lack of roads mean that most forward bases in Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh remain reachable only by air.  The Indian Air Force (IAF) has been supplying men and material to Vijaynagar in Arunachal Pradesh, the easternmost part of the country. People here have seen many An-32 transport aircraft but not a Maruti 800.