BRO to finish Afghan project by July

The Border Roads Organisation will pull out from Afghanistan in July after completing the Zaranj-Delaram link...

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) will pull out from Afghanistan in July after completing the Zaranj-Delaram link to focus on constructing strategic roads on the Sino-Indian border.

BRO Director General Lt Gen A K Nanda said the Afghan project, which was recently attacked by a Taliban suicide bomber, is almost complete and work on the final 30-km stretch of the 210-km road project is now in progress. He said the Indians are protected by a strong contingent of 400 ITBP jawans and 1,400 Afghan security personnel, but hinted that local securitymen could not be fully trusted.

“One is not very sure about the loyalty of everybody. Instances of this nature could happen anytime because a suicide bomber can infiltrate anywhere,” he said.

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The Indian project has been in the news for repeated attacks by Taliban that has left three BRO workers dead since 2005. While two BRO engineers were killed in a suicide attack in April, a BRO driver was beheaded by the Taliban in 2005. Lt Gen Nanda said that no other project has been sanctioned in Afghanistan and the workforce would move back to India to accelerate work on the Indo-China border. He said that the government has identified 61 strategic roads stretching to 3,400 km that have to be taken up on a priority basis.

“Out of the 61 roads, nine have been completed and another eight will be done by the end of this year. Work on 52 roads is in progress and they will be completed by 2012,” said Lt Gen Nanda, speaking to mediapersons on the occasion of the 46th raising day of BRO.