Eye on China, BRO wants to use space tech for asset monitoring

BENGALURU: The Border Roads Organisation (BRO) is keen on adopting space technology for real-time monitoring of its strategic assets, including roads, bridges and tunnels, given the increasing presence of Chinese troops in the northern and northeastern sectors.
Lt Gen Rajeev Chaudhary, director-general, BRO, said MoU was signed with Innovations for Defence Excellence (iDEX) at Aero India to get the technology at the earliest.

“We want to use space technology to monitor projects on the China border. Out of 17 crucial projects, 12 are on the China border alone,” he said. “Manual monitoring has several limitations. It does not give an accurate picture of the terrain. We’ve used an aerial electromagnetic system for preparing DPR for tunnels. Likewise, we want to use space technology for several other objectives. We’ll soon submit a problem statement to iDEX to find apt solutions at the earliest,” he explained.
He said the adoption of contemporary technology is crucial for BRO to expedite tunnel and bridge constructions at strategic locations for the operational preparedness of the Indian armed forces. Sela tunnel in Arunachal Pradesh, bordering China, will be completed in May or June this year, he added.

Chaudhary claimed that the organisation has adopted 14 types of technology for the construction of roads in border areas in the recent past. “We used steel slag to con- struct a road in Arunachal two months ago and recently executed a pilot with all precast protective structures, reinforced earth walls, culverts, drains and pavements prepared at a different site and transported. It’ll help to lay roads even in heavy-rainf all sector (northeast) in the future,” he added.