Work on 519 roads in border areas, including Sikkim, Arunachal

The government today said it was working on an ambitious project to construct and improve 519 roads with a total length of 22,225 kms in the border areas of the country.
Replying to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre said the project is being implemented in 14 states and maximum road length of 7,122 km is in Jammu and Kashmir followed by Arunachal Pradesh with 5,267 km.
The armed forces have been seeking strengthening of road infrastructure in Arunachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir considering their strategic importance.
Bhamre said the project is being implemented as part of a five year plan (2015-2020).

As per details provided by Bhamre, 37 roads with a total length of 910 kms are being strengthened in Sikkim.
The armies of India and China are involved in an over six-week-long face-off in the Dokalam area at the India- Bhutan-China tri-junction.

The government keeps a constant watch on all developments having a bearing on India's security and takes all necessary measures to safeguard it, the minister said.
Bhamre, replying to a separate question, said four strategic railway lines have also been approved.
To a query on the Fifth Generation Fighter Aircraft (FGFA) project with Russia, the minister said it was planned to be executed in two phases -- preliminary design phase and detailed design and development phase.

He said the preliminary design phase was completed in June, 2013, adding an amount of Rs 1,535 crore has been spent as on March 31 in the project.