Josy Joseph

New Delhi: The Border Roads Organisation would begin withdrawing from its Afghanistan project, where India has already lost five lives in terrorist attacks sometime in July-August.

Lieutenant-General Arun Kumar Nanda, the directorgeneral of BRO, said, "In July or August we are completing the project and may start pulling out."

Some 300 BRO personnel are engaged in the construction of the vital Zaranj-Delaram road link in Afghanistan. Over 400 security personnel from the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) guard the construction sites there.

Besides, over 1,400 local Afghan guards are also on duty to guard the BRO personnel.

Nanda said there was "no proposal" to stay back in Afghanistan and take up any new project. Already, some 80% of the road construction is completed and only about 30 km of the total of 222 km remains to be done.

Taliban terrorists have repeatedly struck BRO's construction teams and at least five people have been killed and many injured in these attacks. The latest was the killing of MP Singh and C Govindswamy in mid-April. On January 3, a suicide bomber attacked a BRO convoy killing Desha Singh and Manoj Kumar Singh of the ITBP. Five others were injured in the attack.

In November 2005, MR Kutty, a BRO driver was kidnapped and killed by Taliban. "In an alien country threats are always there and we have to live with it," Nanda said about the threats.

The BRO chief said they were giving top priority to the construction of 61 roads along the Sino-Indian border.

In all 3,400 km of road are being built close to the China border to strengthen Indian infrastructure, neglected for the past four decades.

Out of the 61 roads, the BRO has completed nine roads and eight are likely to be completed this year, he said. The rest of the roads would be completed by 2012, he said.

Source : DNA