Govt targets ₹21,000-cr roads along border belt

In order to ensure a quicker movement of men and machines along the country's international borders, the government plans to construct 44 'strategic' roads along the border with China and over 2100 km of axial and lateral roads in Punjab and Rajasthan, said official sources, for which a Central Public Works Department (CPWD) has been handed over an annual report and has been asked to fast track the construction. The nearly 4000-km-long Line of Actual Control between India and China touches areas in J&K and in Arunachal Pradesh. The report comes at a time when China is giving priority to projects along the Indian borders. The roads will be constructed at a cost of about Rs 21,000 crore along the Indo-China border and will stretch across J&K, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Sikkim and Arunachal.