Rajnath Singh to inaugurate 43 BRO-built major bridges across 7 States/UTs

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will inaugurate 43 permanent major bridges constructed by the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) across seven States/UTs on Thursday morning, his office said in a tweet. The Ministry said the 43 bridges made by BRO includes 10 in Jammu and Kashmir, eight in Uttarakhand and Arunachal Pradesh each, seven in Ladakh, four in Punjab and Sikkim each and two in Himachal Pradesh.

He will also lay the foundation stone for Nechiphu Tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh via video conference. The tunnel is expected to shorten the travel time to Tawang.

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Reinforcing border infrastructure

The government has been trying to reinforce infrastructure in border areas through extensive road and bridge-building. The Chinese and Indian armies have been embroiled in a tense standoff along the Line of Actual Control in eastern Ladakh since May and the Indian side is preparing for a long haul through winter.

The Centre has increased funding for border road development projects and raised the allocation for maintenance of border roads. Funding for road development projects in border areas has been raised from Rs 340 crore to Rs 440 crore in the current financial year. The budget for maintenance of border roads has gone up from Rs 120 crore to Rs 220 crore. This is the second revision of funding for border roads in the fiscal year; in June, the ministry of road transport and highways raised the allocation for border road maintenance by four times to Rs 120 crore.

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