Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 20: In a major decision aimed at expediting road projects to build infrastructure along Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China including Ladakh, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley today announced delegation of immense administrative and financial powers to the top brass of Border Roads Organisation (BRO).
“Though the BRO was engaged in construction of various road projects along the borders, the Defence Ministry was very particular about expediting construction of 61 strategic roads along LAC with China in Ladakh (Jammu and Kashmir) and four other States, which have border with China,” official sources told the Excelsior.
The Press Information Bureau (PIB) today uploaded detailed order of the Defence Ministry on empowerment of the BRO.
Sources said the BRO, which functions under the control of Defence Ministry, has been engaged in construction of many road projects in Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh along LAC with China and had to approach the Defence Ministry for frequent approval of funds up to a certain limit, which was consuming some time.
“To overcome this hurdle and ensure that the BRO goes ahead with development of infrastructure along the frontiers, the Defence Ministry today immensely enhanced powers of the BRO,” sources said.
They added that the Ministry of Defence would identify certain road projects to be developed by the BRO.
While empowering the BRO, the Defence Ministry has announced that it would develop a mechanism for online monitoring of all road projects for which a system would be developed.
The PIB statement said the Ministry of Defence has decided to delegate administrative and financial powers to the BRO right up to the level of Chief Engineer and Task Force Commander, to avoid delays on account of references between the Chief Engineer and Headquarters of Director General Border Roads (DGBR) and also between HQ DGBR and the Ministry.
“Functioning under the control of the Ministry of Defence since 2015, the BRO is engaged in road construction to provide connectivity to difficult and inaccessible regions in the border areas of the country. The Ministry of Defence intends to bring transformational changes in the organization in order to improve the pace of execution of works and to achieve the desired outcomes according to the requirement of the Armed Forces,” sources said.
In line with the aim to bring in transformational changes in the BRO, various powers of delegation have been revised.
According to the earlier delegation of powers, a Chief Engineer in the BRO could give administrative approval of works only up to Rs 10 crore, that too only for departmental works, whereas the ADGBR had powers to accord administrative approval only up to Rs 20 crore for departmental works. For contractual works, all administrative approvals were given by DGBR, who had powers only up to Rs. 50 crore.
“Enhancing the powers at all levels in the BRO, the Ministry of Defence has now approved that for both departmental and contractual mode of execution, a Chief Engineer of BRO can accord administrative approval up to Rs. 50 crore, ADGBR up to Rs. 75 crore and DGBR up to Rs 100 crore,” the handout said.
Further, according to the earlier delegation of powers, a Chief Engineer in the BRO had the power to accept execution of contracts only up to Rs. 10 crore, ADGBR had powers up to Rs 20 crore, beyond which all tenders had to be sent to DGBR.
“With the intent to speed up the tendering process, the Ministry of Defence has now enhanced the powers of Chief Engineer for acceptance of bids with cost of contract up to Rs 100 crore and that of ADGBR for cost of contract up to Rs 300 crore. With this delegation, the entire tendering process including acceptance of bids would be completed at the level of Chief Engineer/ADGBR for a majority of the contracts,” the handout added.
It further said that for adopting the DPR mode of execution, there is a need to outsource consultancy services. According to the earlier delegation of powers, a Chief Engineer had powers only up to Rs. 10 lakh, ADGBR up to Rs. 50 lakh and DGBR up to Rs. 2 crore. The Ministry of Defence has now enhanced the powers of Chief Engineer to accord administrative approval for outsourcing of consultancy services up to Rs 2 crore and ADGBR up to Rs 5 crore and full powers beyond Rs 5 crore to DGBR.
“There also is a need to replace obsolete construction equipment in the BRO with modern equipment. According to the earlier delegation of powers, DGBR had powers only up to Rs. 7.5 crore for procurement of indigenous equipment and Rs 3 crore for procurement of imported equipment. All other cases of procurement had to be referred to the Ministry of Defence. In order to fast track the procurement of latest construction machinery and equipment in the BRO, the Ministry of Defence has enhanced the delegation of powers up to Rs. 100 crore to DGBR for procurement of both indigenous/imported equipment,” it said.
As per the handout, in case of emergent need for construction equipment, DGBR has been given full powers for hiring up to three years and for Chief Engineers (Project), powers have been enhanced from Rs 50 lakh to Rs 5 crore and the period of hiring has been enhanced from 6 months to one year.
PTI adds from Mumbai: Defence Minister Arun Jaitley today said security forces with their resolute action had established dominance over terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir and the Centre was firm that armed militancy must end in the border State.
He said the Kashmir issue had become complicated because of cross-border support to terrorists and also because local groups.
“The Kashmir issue had become complicated because of cross-border support (to terrorism) and (also) our own groups supporting the armed militants.
“Mass civil protests were seen in the form of stone- pelting and sometimes this was used to help terrorists escape,” he said.
Jaitley was speaking at a function organized by Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar. He spoke on the topic ‘New India Pledge’. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was also present on the occasion.
The Defence Minister slammed the erstwhile Congress- led UPA Government, saying it had no firm policy to solve the decades-old Kashmir issue.
“The earlier Government did not solve the Kashmir issue then what right do they have to question us? There was a leadership which was not taking action and only finding excuses to delay taking any decision,” he alleged.
However, the Modi Government was firm in its conviction that armed militancy in the State bordering Pakistan must end, Jaitley said.
“Today, a time has come where all forces–local police, central forces and the Army–are dominating terrorists. There is a clarity in our decision and stand that the armed military has to be ended,” he said.
“We must understand that we have a prime minister who faces challenges which no other PM had faced in the past,” Jaitley said.
Jaitley said demonetization left Maoists in many parts of India and separatists in Jammu and Kashmir “fund starved”.
He said it greatly reduced the number of protesters taking part in stone-pelting in the militancy-hit state.
“Stone pelters used to gather in thousands on the streets of Kashmir before demonetization was announced, but now not even 25 come together for such agitations,” he said.
“After demonetization, separatists in Jammu and Kashmir and also Maoists in States like Chhattisgarh have become fund starved,” the Defence Minister said.
Elaborating on benefits of the move to scrap high-value notes in November 2016, Jaitley said money which was earlier getting circulated outside the economy had come into the formal banking system.
On the BJP’s vision of building a ‘New India’, he said, “We want to spend funds on defence, rural development and infrastructure.”
“We should have world-class public institutions so that shameful incidents such as the Gorakhpur tragedy do not recur,”
The Finance Minister said the Modi Government was not satisfied with a 7-7.5 per cent GDP growth rate.
To accelerate the growth rate, the Government would continue to take tough decisions in the interest of the nation as it had done since coming into power in 2014, he said.
Jaitley listed several achievements of the BJP-led Government, which had completed three years in power.
Among them, he spoke about the GST rollout, notes ban, the insolvency and bankruptcy code, amendment to laws related to benami transactions, fair allocation of spectrum and natural resources and double taxation avoidance treaties signed with various countries.
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