Setting the record straight on what the BRTF is about

Ravindra Kumar Saha *

Ukhrul-Jessami Highway maintained by BRO BRTF in August 2013 :: Pix - Jinendra Maibam

In the wake of its compliance of duty by BRTF and a need of time, a humble request is made to the public of Manipur vide this appeal.

It is to bring to the kind notice of all public of Manipur that the 25 Border Roads Task Force (25 BRTF) which is functioning under the Project Sewak, employees of this organisation under which Sewak is a project functioning in the State of Manipur and Nagaland are called as General Reserve Engineer Force.

This force (BRTF people) is a constructive force. Constructive skill of the employees, vehicle, construction equipment/plants are its arms, by this force force has been fighting with the nature and remote/tough region, where no other agencies are either willing to work under miseries, being far from normal/developed habitats of having adequate knowhow to develop the road in inhospitalble terrain.

Secondly, this Force is not independent enough to execute the work as per ground necessity rather BRTF executes the task only as per assignment and fund allotment. In case task is assigned and fund is not allotted from Government in that case also BRTF is unable to execute construction works on ground even though full effort is made to keep the road open for public conveyance.

Here is it well known to us, hence needless to say but relevant to State that this department/BRTF has been working on the noble task of socio-economic development of the remote/tough/underdeveloped region in this State right from the establishment of this BRTF/department by way of construction/development/maintenance of the road/civil works where task is assigned either within the country/beyond the country without personal care/comfort of the troops.

It is also pertinent to mention here that the Casual Paid Labourers are the back bone of the department besides is ground executvie. For development of road/construction activitity, existence of adequate numbers of site executives/Casual Paid Labourers with high morale as well as basic equipments/vehicles are essential to be available on the ground.

With reference to the recent incident at Ukhrul causing injuries to few personnel due to lED blast and as mentioned in Sangai Express on behalf of a group of citizens of Manipur that “BRTF functions under Ministry of Defence, doing the role of reconnaissance in the name of making roads and BRTF is a big spy force and on account of reports furnished by them, many revolutionaries have been arrested and many camps destroyed”.

In this connection BRTF clarifies that this department is not under Ministry of Defence rather it is under a Board called “Border Road Development Board” having a separate Secretary which has been constituted for socio-economic development of underdeveloped region irrespective of borders & have proved its utility in India in different States, plane/hilly region including abroad like in Myanmar, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Libya, Kazakistan etc wherever deployed .

Further it is also clarified here that this department is associated with Ministry of Defence (Govt of India) only for disciplinary purpose otherwise this department has been doing noble task of development mainly funded by Ministry of Road Transport & Highways including some other agency’s works, like of Ministry of Home affairs, Ministry of DONER, NEC, Manipur. In Manipur itself maximum works pertain to Ministry of Road Transport & Highways.

As regard to the reconnaissance is concerned, reconnaissance of the terrain is basic task of road construction which BRTF requires to carry on ground including property existing along the alignment to find out the case of compensation/forest clearance if any and to decide the location of quarry/culvert/bridge etc. Other than such reconnaissance this department has no role in other kind of reconnaissance neither this department takes any input nor sends any hidden/undue report as this department is only & only meant for construction activity.

Being a spy of any person/group/Government has no relation with written/unwritten agenda of the BRTF rather BRTF works in co-operation/close co-ordination of the ground public. If it is compared from the Govt department/execution agency, execution of work & life of it’s personnel are entirely different. In other departments where only workers work on ground, in this department, employees including Junior Engineers/Officers use to stand/keep running on ground to get the task completed. No road is left blocked in case of slides etc, rather prompt action is taken by department being its primary & single duty to construct/develop & maintain the road /civil works.

However if any individual is suspected to be involved in spying or working against the citizen, it may be brought to notice to take corresponding disciplinary action e.g discharge from the service or transfer to other sector.

It is a humble request to all public/citizens of Manipur to extend full co­operation on ground in completion of the noble task of construction & maintenance of the road & putting due support to socio-economic development of the region irrespective of any caste, creed or religion.

As long as the BRTF is provided fund and job sanction to execute the work, this BRTF will keep serving this State. Hence, it is humbly prayed that constant appeal is made to the public of Manipur to extend full co-operation with high degree of fraternity towards employees/workers of this BRTF/Organisation.