Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination (Topic: Infrastructure Boosting in Areas along China Border)

Brain Booster for UPSC & State PCS Examination

Infrastructure Boosting in Areas along China Border

In order to ramp up infrastructure along the China border, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has decided to spend 10% funds of Border Area Development Programme (BADP) on border projects in Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Sikkim.

The BADP has been allocated Rs. 784 crore in the 2020-21 fiscal and the money is distributed to the border States and Union Territories (UTs) depending on various criteria such as the length of the international border and population. In 2019-20, Rs. 825 crore was granted for the scheme.

The projects for developing strategically important villages and towns in border areas that have been identified by the border guarding forces, will be given priority.
The forces could later on be asked to conduct the Social Audit of the infrastructure created.
Around Rs.78.4 crore has been parked for projects in areas inhabited along the 3,488 km China border.
Out of the remaining 638.2 crore, the northeastern States- Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura and Sikkim would get - 255.28 crore or 40% of the remaining 80% funds.
Around 382.9 crore or 60% funds would be allocated to Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, West Bengal and Union Territories Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh.
Construction of roads, bridges, culverts, primary schools, health infrastructure, playfields, irrigation works, mini-stadiums etc. can be undertaken within 10 kmof the border from the BADP funds.

In a major boost to building strategic roads along India's northern border with China, the government has accepted and implemented three important recommendations relating to border infrastructure, made by the Shekatkar Committee in 2016.
The recommendations accepted were aimed at speeding up road construction in remote areas, providing easier access to the military and leading to socio economic development in the border areas.
First recommendation is to outsource road construction work beyond optimal capacity of Border Roads Organisation (BRO).
Second recommendation is to introduce modern construction plant, equipment and machinery. For this, the BRO's “enhanced procurement powers” for domestic and foreign procurements from have been increased from Rs 7.5 crore to Rs 100 crore.
Third is, completing land acquisition and obtaining statutory clearances such as forest and environmental clearance will now be pre-requisites for approving the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for a new road. Work can be awarded only after at least 90 per cent of the statutory clearances have been obtained.
The Shekatkar Committee submitted a total of 99 recommendations. Details of the report and its recommendations have not been placed in the public domain as it “covers operational aspects of the armed forces, disclosure of which is not in the interest of national security,” the government told Parliament in February 2019.

The Department of Border Management, Ministry of Home Affairs has been implementing the BADP through the State Governments as part of a comprehensive approach to Border Management.
The programme aims to meet the special development needs of the people living in remote and inaccessible areas situated near the international border and to saturate the border areas with the essential infrastructure through convergence of Central/State/BADP/Local schemes and participatory approach.
The States covered are Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and West Bengal. Under this programme priority is given to the areas closer to the border.