Border Roads Organisation
The Border Roads Organisation, also known by its acronym BRO, is a unique combination of officers from the Corps of Engineers of the Indian Army and Border Roads Engineering Service (BRES) officers from General Reserve Engineer Force ( GREF ) to maintain roads that serve the borders areas. The BRO contributes to the army's other duties and supplies units that are part of the defence forces. BRO's activities have helped to accelerate the economic development of the North and North Eastern border states. The roads construction teams have to deal with some of the harshest climate in the world. The BRO has some formidable hurdles, the icy Himalayan tops, the marshes of West Bengal, the deserts in Rajasthan. BRO undertakes road constructions and maintenance at high altitude in the hills. Some of the BRO roads are built as high as 5,000 metres above mean sea level.
The BRO was formed on 7 May, 1960 with the Indian Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru as the chairman of the Border Roads Development Board, as an inter-ministerial organisation. BRO is led by the Director General of Border Roads (DGBR), as it Executive Head, who is of the rank of Lieutenant General. The BRO is also provided a General Reserve Engineer Force (GREF), as the execution force under the Ministry of Surface Transport.GREF comprises engineers from civil engineering, electrical & mechanical engineering disciplines from reputed engineering colleges after selection through Union Public Service Commission( UPSC )by clearing Engineering Services Examination at All India Level, administrative officers, supervisors and other trades of personnel. Its operations also run in Bhutan and Myanmar.
The Border Roads Organisation operates a network of over 34,306 km of roads and 16,601 meters of permanent bridges. BRO has operations in twenty-two states including the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, a Union Territory.
Structure
The fundamental unit of the BRO is akin to a platoon. This functional platoon, composed of army civil engineers and civil engineer officers of general reserve engineer force (GREF) is in charge of activities such as cutting, surfacing, and safety mechanisms to maintain correct road geometry. The building of permanent and temporary bridges, causeways and construction of airfields also comes under the ambit of the BRO. The BRO is composed of 13 Projects,which are divided into TaskForces which are further subdivided into RCCs(Road Construction Companies), Workshops, Store & Supply & Tpt coy.
BRO is also in charge of maintenance of its networks. In many places landslides, avalanches and snow block the routes and have to cleared as quickly as possible. BRO also employs the local populace in the task thus providing a steady employment to the peoples of the border areas.
The BRO is supported by an Integrated Financial Advisory (IFA) system which came into existence in 1995. A similar set up was established through the ACDA/Senior Accounts Officers at the Chief Engineer Project level and Accounts Officers at the Task Force level. The IFA secured the ISO 9002 certification in December 1999.
Goals
Vision
Nation’s most reputed, multifaceted, trans-national, modern construction Organisation committed to meeting the strategic needs of the armed forces with enlightened leadership, a strong, skilled and committed work force, a well ingrained value system and a strong environment conscience. Play a national role in socio-economic development through its large scale contribution to infrastructure development.
Mission
- To support the armed forces meet their strategic needs by committed, dedicated and cost effective development and sustenance of the infrastructure.
- To achieve international levels of quality excellence and time consciousness in a diversified sphere of construction activity in a cost effective manner.
- Optimise potential and expertise through increased involvement in agency, trans-national and national development projects.
- To attain leadership in development, adoption, assimilation and use of state of the art technology.
- To create the environment for accurate, real time and effective decision making through optimising use of information technology.
- Through a focus on core competencies; ensure the highest level of skill and proficiency in construction activity.
- To sustain a sense of values in the Organisation that will ensure a high level of self-esteem in each individual and immeasurable synergy in the Organisation.
- To help enrich the quality of life of the community and ensure all-round growth.
Role
- In peace:
- To develop and maintain the operational road infrastructure of the general staff in the border areas.
- Contribute to the socio-economic development of the border states.
- In War
- To develop & maintain roads to keep the line of control through in original sectors and re-deployed sectors.
- To execute additional tasks as laid down by the government thus contributing to the war effort.
Projects
They usually have projects in hostile and difficult environment, where private companies are not willing to work, due to various factors including security & harsh climate. They have projects in other countries like in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Myanmar and Bhutan. The Zaranj-Dilaram highway in Afghanistan, to be completed by 2008 as its personnel cannot work night shifts due to security considerations. The restoration of the Ayni-Farkhor Air Base, near Tajikistan’s capital Dushanbe. The BRO also played a vital role in reconstruction in the aftermath of the tsunami in TamilNadu, India and the October 8 earthquake in Kashmir, India.