BRO cafes along remote routes to provide wayside amenities to tourists in Himachal, J&K, Ladakh

Vijay Mohan

Advertisement

Chandigarh, June 22

The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) will set up roadside facilities at 75 locations in 12 states to assist civilian travellers along remote routes in border areas in north and east India. Majority of the locations are in north India.

Termed BRO Cafes, these are intended to provide basic amenities and comfort to the tourists and lead to boosting of economic activities in border areas, besides generating employment for the local people.

As far as north India is concerned, 45 cafés will come up. The locations include 14 in Ladakh, 12 in Jammu and Kashmir, 11 in Uttarakhand, seven in Himachal Pradesh and one in Punjab. With 19 locations, Arunachal Pradesh in the east tops the list.

The other states where these cafes will come up are Assam, Manipur Nagaland, West Bengal and Sikkim in the eastern theatre and Rajasthan in the west.

The BRO has its reach in the remotest border areas and besides addressing strategic needs, it has been instrumental in socio-economic upliftment of the Northern and Eastern borders. This has resulted in increased tourist influx in these scenic locations, hitherto inaccessible, read a statement issued by the Ministry of Defence today.

Headed by an officer of the rank of Lieutenant General, BRO functions under the ambit of the Ministry of Defence and is responsible for the construction and maintenance of strategic and tactical roads, bridges, tunnels, airfields and helipads in India’s border areas as well is in some friendly neighbouring countries like Bhutan, Myanmar, Tajikistan and Afghanistan.

In order to provide conducive and comfortable transit of tourists on these roads located at harsh climatic and geographical conditions, the need to establish multi-utility wayside amenities along the major tourist circuits in these regions was recognised. Since the inaccessibility and remoteness of these roads preclude widespread commercial deployments, the BRO, by virtue of its presence, took it upon itself to open such facilities at remote places, the statement added.

The scheme provides for development and operation of wayside amenities in public-private partnership mode under a licence agreement with various agencies, which will design, build and operate the cafes in accordance with guidelines framed by BRO.

Amenities like parking for vehicles, food plaza or restaurant, separate restrooms for men, women and differently abled, first aid facilities and medical aid, etc. are proposed to be provided at the cafes. The licenses will be issued to eligible agencies through a competitive process. The terms of the agreement will be for 15 years which may be further extended for a period up to five years.

Recently, BRO had also launched an initiative to facilitate students and tourists to visit some of the notable projects completed by it. The Atal Tunnel under the Rohtang Pass in Himachal Pradesh was the first such destination.