New Delhi: Concerned over slow pace of work on strategic roads along the border with China in northeastern states, Defence Minister AK Antony on Monday asked Armed Forces and other agencies to complete their projects there in time in view of the current security situation.
"We need to go beyond the Proposed Date of Completion (PDCs) in view of the current security scenario. The time has come for the implementation of deliverables," he told a meeting to review infrastructure projects in northeastern states.
As part of India`s efforts to strengthen defences along the boundary with China, the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) has been given several road projects including 73 strategic roads in the northeast and PM`s Package for Arunachal Pradesh and a number of these have been delayed.
Antony said since the majority of the teething problems have now been overcome, "there was a need to give a push to complete infrastructure projects in time-bound manner."
In the meeting, ministry officials pointed out that "not much progress" has taken place in the projects in the northeastern region since April, Defence Ministry sources said.
"Around few months back, 15 strategic roads, 8 Long Term Perspective Plan (LTPP) I, 111 General Staff (GS) roads, 2 PM`s Package for J and K and 9 other roads have been completed and other roads are under various stages of progress," a source said.
Antony asked Minister of State for Defence Jitendra Singh to look into the issues of environmental clearances and bottlenecks for defence projects in the region with the central and stage agencies concerned in the process.
In recent times, Environment Ministry has also relaxed certain norms for Defence Ministry projects in sensitive areas such as northeast.
PTI
